New construction and renovations are giving a boost to Penn State research and extension programming related to mushrooms, one of Pennsylvania’s top agricultural crops.
The College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State has a rich history of mushroom programs, dating to the early 1900s. The growth of these programs has paralleled, and contributed to, the success of the state’s $570 million mushroom industry, which produces nearly two-thirds of all Agaricus (white button) mushrooms grown in the United States.
Now, a newly completed compost building adjacent to the Mushroom Research Center is online, providing an improved composting system to support cropping needs, according to the center’s manager, John Pecchia, assistant professor of plant pathology. In addition, he noted, the Mushroom Research Center’s nine growing rooms are being renovated to ensure more consistent growing conditions and maximize the reliability of research results.
“Mushrooms tend to be finicky in terms of temperature and humidity,” said Pecchia, who also coordinates the college’s undergraduate mushroom science and technology minor. “The renovations will give us more precise control over the growing environment, which in turn gives us higher confidence in the data we collect during our studies.”
source: scienceblog.com
