Vallioah Mahdizadeh - Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran.
Naser Safaie - Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran.
Mina Salehi - Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Akbar Jahedi - Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

Genus Lentinula comprises some of the most important edible and medicinal fungal species of the world. To compare growth rate of the strains of this genus, samples were collected from different regions of the world including Iran during ۲۰۱۷-۲۰۱۸. Investigation of the growth of ۴۰ strains on two substrates containing malt and wheat straw extracts showed their relatively excellent performance on both media. Based on preliminary growth characteristics of the strains, ۲۰ strains were selected to study their growth rate on natural substrate containing defined proportion of straw (۴۰%) + sawdust (۴۰%) + wheat bran (۲۰%). Three strains including VM۲۳۰ (UK strain), VM۲۶۷ (Belgium strain) and VM۳۵۳ (Japanese strain) showed high growth rate (۶۵.۲۵, ۶۳.۷۵ and ۶۴.۵۰ mm d-۱, respectively), and were identified as Lentinula edodes by ITS۴ and ITS۵ sequencing. Growth rate of the best strain (VM۲۳۰) was evaluated on different substrates containing different proportions of straw, sawdust and wheat bran. The highest growth rate (۵۸.۷۵ mm d-۱) for VM۲۳۰ was recorded on wheat straw (۸۰%) + wheat bran (۲۰%). These three strains are promising for commercial production of Shiitake.

medicinal fungus, growth, taxonomy, malt, straw