Analysis of Physicochemical and Biological Characters by Applying
Mushroom Substrate into Soil in Cold Region
Q. Y. Meng
1,2,3,4,#
, B. G. Zhu
1,3,4,#,†,*
, C. F. Zhang
1,3,4,‡,*
, N. N. Wang
1,3,4
, H. Y. Feng
1,3,4
, X. H. Yang
1
and C. D. Li
1
1
Jiamusi Branch, Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Heilongjiang, Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, China
2
Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences Postdoctoral Programme, Haerbin, Heilongjiang, China
3
The Key Laboratory of Major Crop Breeding and Cultivation in Sanjiang Plain, Jiamusi, Heilongjiang 154007, China
4
The Albic Soil Machinery Improvement Technology Innovation Center in Heilongjiang Province,
Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, China
*
Corresponding author e-mails
#
These authors contributed equally to this work
Keywords: Mushroom Substrate, Soil Physicochemical.
Abstract: After soil reclamation in cold regions, the basic fertility, tillage, and biological activity of creatures all
decrease. As a waste of edible fungus medium, the mushroom substrate contains quite a lot of nutrients that
are beneficial to the growth of crops, which are capable of soil improvement and cultivation and make a
promotion to yields. Therefore, it is of great significance to research the application of mushroom substrate
to improve the physicochemical and biological characteristics of soil in a cold region. The experiment was
implemented in 2016 as a randomized block design with micro plots. The soil hardness of 0 - 20 cm horizon,
the ratio of three phases, field capacity, soil nutrients content, microbe amounts, soil enzymatic activity, and
the influence of yield are discussed. In these tests, the writer added black mushroom substrate into plowing
horizon soil at different rates: 0 kg m
-2
(CK), 2.5 kg m
-2
(T1), 5 kg m
-2
(T2), 7.5 kg m
-2
(T3), and 10 kg m
-2
(T4). The results show that the addition of mushroom substrate can decrease the penetration resistance of soil,
improve soil three-phase, increase soil fertility and activate the activity of soil microorganisms, earthworms,
and soil enzymes, and thus increase crop yield. Compared with CK, the potato production correspondingly
increased by 12.82% (T1), 27.90% (T2), 50.74% (T3), and 63.41% (T4). The treatments with the mushroom
substrate at 7.5 kg m
-2
, and 10 kg m
-2
stand out in improving soil physicochemical properties and activating
the activity of soil microorganisms.
1 INTRODUCTION
Logs were traditionally used as raw material to
cultivate edible fungus. At present, logs are replaced
by straw, rice husk, sawdust, and other raw materials,
which will be edible fungus hypha residues and
compounds of crude fibers decomposed by edible
fungi and qualitatively changed after the harvest of
edible fungus. These compounds are known as edible
fungus cultivation waste, residue, or oddment, which
is referred toas the mushroom substrate in this article.
China ranks first in total production and export of
edible fungus in the world, and the annual production
of edible fungi accounts for more than 75% of the
world's total output (Zhang et al., 2016; Deng 2016),
which results in an enormous amount of fungus waste.
It is calculated that about 5kg of the mushroom
substrate can be produced by each 1kg of edible
fungus (Nakatsuka et al., 2016; Lau et al., 2003).
After grain, vegetable, fruit tree, and oil production,
the edible fungus is the fifth largest industry in
China's agricultural industry. Traditional ways of
dealing with edible fungus are wasting or burning
them, which not only waste agricultural organic
resources but also seriously pollute the surrounding
environment (Lou et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2017).
The pressure on the economy and environment caused
by the mushroom substrate in agricultural and forestry
areas has become an urgent problem.
The utilization ratio of the nutrients in the
medium is about 70%, so it remains a large number of
edible mycelia in the mushroom substrate after the
Meng, Q., Zhu, B., Zhang, C., Wang, N., Feng, H., Yang, X. and Li, C.
Analysis of Physicochemical and Biological Characters by Applying Mushroom Substrate into Soil in Cold Region.
DOI: 10.5220/0011596500003430
In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Agricultural and Biological Sciences (ABS 2022), pages 83-91
ISBN: 978-989-758-607-1; ISSN: 2795-5893
Copyright
c
2022 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
83
harvest of edible fungus, including organic matters,
nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and other nutrients
needed by crops (such as protein, crude fiber, fat,
amino acid, many vitamins, microelements, and
special enzymes) (Jordan et al., 2008; Medina et al.,
2012; Roy et al., 2015). Apart from the existing
beneficial nutrients, the mushroom substrate is loose,
permeable, and can preserve water and fertilizer. Due
to the special physicochemical properties of
mushroom substrate, the main reusing ways are
making it into medium (Liu et al., 2016; Picornell et
al., 2016; Li et al., 2015; Mao et al., 2015), organic
fertilizer (Paredes et al., 2016; Hidayat 2017; Cao et
al., 2017; Zeng et al., 2015), feed (Rangubhet et al.,
2017; Li et al., 2016; Hassan et al., 2014; Seok et al.,
2016), soil improver or restorer (Shi et al., 2014;
Wang et al., 2017).
Heilongjiang province is the third largest edible
fungus production base in China after Henan and
Shandong provinces. There is a growing threat caused
by enormous fungi to the economy, especially the
ecological environment in agricultural and forestry
areas. As an agricultural area in a cold region, parts of
cultivated land of the Sanjiang plain in the eastern part
of this province saw a reduction in tillage land, and
soil fertility declined, which were caused by many
improper methods of tillage, such as continuous
cropping, single management, and extensive farming.
Water and soil erosion, soil acidification, soil
pollution, and other problems stand out (Zhou 2015;
Zhang et al., 2014; Yang et al., 2017). To solve the soil
problems, improve soil quality and restore soil
productivity in this area, the researches on soil
improvement have received wide attention.
Many reports on the use of mushroom substrate
mainly focus on soil physicochemical properties. By
adding different proportions of the black mushroom
substrate to the soil to improve soil, the writer aimed
at studying soil physicochemical properties, as well as
soil microorganisms, animals, and enzymes, which
provide a comprehensive reference basis for
comprehensively improving soil, increasing soil
fertility, and improving the economic efficiency of
crops.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Experimental Site
Located in Jiamusi branch of Heilongjiang academy
of agricultural sciences (130° 24' 29.5056" E, 46° 47'
29.9328"N) in Sanjiang plain, China, the test site is
subjected to the temperate zone continental monsoon
climate, with rain and hot over the same period, and
the annual average temperature is 3 ℃. Here, winter
is long and summer is short, and the annual average
precipitation is 527 mm.
2.2 Experimental Design
The test began in 2019. The tested soil was meadow
soil. The basic physicochemical properties of soil
were the organic matter of 31.41 g kg
-1
, total nitrogen
of 1.10 g kg
-1
, total phosphorus of 1.68 g kg
-1
, total
potassium of 26.26 g kg
-1
, and the pH was 6.17.
The component of the mushroom substrate used
for test was black mushroom substrate. Its main
components were: wood chips 53%, wheat bran 15%,
corncob 30%, gypsum 1%, and lime 1%. The basic
physicochemical properties of the mushroom
substrate are shown in table 1.
Table 1: Basic physicochemical properties of the mushroom
substrate.
Total
nitrogen
(g
k
g
-1
)
Total
phosphorus
(g
k
g
-1
)
Total
potassium
(g
k
g
-1
)
Organic
matter
(g
k
g
-1
)
pH
9.47 2.09 1.89 216.5 6.2
The mushroom substrate was added in five
different treatments, and the amounts (dry weight)
were 0 kg m
-2
(CK), 2.5 kg m
-2
(T1), 5 kg m
-2
(T2),
7.5 kg m
-2
(T3), and 10 kg m
-2
(T4). Randomly
distributed, they were tested in small areas and each
is 6 m
-2
, and repeated 3 times. A 50 cm isolation belt
was set between two areas. The mushroom substrate
was fully mixed with soil (0 - 20 cm), which was
shown in Figure 1.
Notes: 1-a The mushroom substrate; 1-b The mushroom
substrate covered soil; 1-c The mushroom substrate and the
plowing horizon soil were fully mixed.
Figure 1: The mushroom substrate was added to the soil.
a
b
c
ABS 2022 - The International Conference on Agricultural and Biological Sciences
84
Growing crops: potato (Netherlands 14). The
row spacing was 80cm and the plant distance was
18cm. Fertilizer: base fertilizer and potato special
fertilizer (N: P: K=15: 12: 13) 800 kg hm
-2
. The mixed
fertilizer was well dug in the space between every two
lines, supplied with natural precipitation, and the test
areas were managed like normal fields. The potato
special fertilizer was used at 800 kg hm
-2
when the
crops were in the growing period.
2.3 Soil Sample Collection and
Measurement Method
2.3.1 Soil Sample Collection
After removing plant residues and stones, plowing
horizon soil (0 - 20 cm) samples were collected in the
serpentine sampling method in the autumn of 2016
during the potato maturation period. Fully mixed and
sifted with a sieve (size: 2 mm), the soil was put in the
aseptic bags to be used for the measurement of soil
nutrients, soil enzymes, and the number of soil
microorganisms. The plowing horizon soil samples
collected in the ring knife collection method were to
be used for the measurement of soil three-phase. The
soil samples collected from different depths (0 - 5 cm,
5 - 10 cm, 10 - 15 cm, and 15 - 20 cm) were to be used
for the measurement of soil field capacity.
2.3.2 Soil Sample Measurement and Method
Soil physicochemical properties measurement and
method: soil penetration resistance (DIK-5521
hardness tester, Japan, and the conical area was 2cm
2
);
soil three-phase (DIK-1120 soil three-phase
instrument, Japan); soil field capacity content (dry
method, 105 ℃, 24 h); soil nutrient measurement and
organic matters (potassium dichromate-sulfuric acid
external heating method); soil total nitrogen (Kjeldahl
determination); soil full phosphorus (acid soluble
molybdenum antimony colorimetry); soil full
potassium (sodium hydroxide melt-flame
photometer); soil alkaline solution nitrogen (alkali-
diffusion method); effective phosphorus (sodium
bicarbonate leaching-molybdenum anticolorimetry);
rapidly available potassium (ammonium acetate
extraction - flame photometric method) (Lu, 2000).
Measurement and methods of soil
microorganisms and soil enzymes: soil bacterium
(beef extract peptone medium), fungus (improved
gauzeⅠmedium), and the plate counting method were
used for the number counting of actinomycetes (rose
bengal medium); the number of earthworms in soil
was measured by sample method (quadrat size: 30 cm
× 30 cm × 20 cm). Soil enzymes measurement
included soil catalase (0.1 N KMnO
4
titration), urease
(indophenol blue colorimetry), and phosphatase (3, 5
dinitrosalicylic acid colorimetric method) (Guan,
1986).
2.3.3 Potato Yield
In each test area, whole potatoes were measured, and
the single tuber of potato, significantly more than 200
g, was named big one, and 100 - 200 g medium potato,
less than 100 g small potato. Potato starch content was
measured by the method of specific gravity.
2.4 Statistical Analysis
The experimental data were calculated and
statistically analyzed using SPSS 20.0, and LSD
multiple comparison method was adopted. The
significant level was 0.05.
Figure 2: Effect of soil improved by the mushroom substrate
on soil penetration resistance.
3 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
3.1 Effects of Soil Improved by The
Mushroom Substrate on
Physicochemical Properties of Soil
3.1.1 Soil Penetration Resistance
Soil penetration resistance has a direct effect on plant
growth and crop yield. With soil depth increased, the
penetration resistance of processed soil increased
(Figure 2); with the increase of adding the amount of
mushroom substrate, the penetration resistance value
significantly lowered at each measured point of soil.
Decrease of soil penetration resistance value at each
horizon in T4 treatment shows that the addition of
Analysis of Physicochemical and Biological Characters by Applying Mushroom Substrate into Soil in Cold Region
85
mushroom substrate can reduce soil penetration
resistance and loosen the soil. At depth of 10 cm, the
values of soil penetration resistance were respectively
T2 - 0.43 MPa, T3 - 0.40 MPa, T4 - 0.30 MPa, and all
were lower than CK - 0.57 MPa.
3.1.2 Soil Penetration Resistance
The three-phase ratio of soil is the volume percent of
soil solid phase, liquid phase, and gas phase. The solid
phase mainly refers to various kinds of detritus of
rocks, mineral particles, and residue of animals,
plants, and microorganisms in the soil; the liquid
phase mainly refers to soil solution or soil water; the
gas phase refers to soil air or void that is not occupied
by water. Different distribution and ratios of soil three
phases influence soil aeration, permeability, water
supply, water conservation, and other physical
properties, as well as the soil pH, exchange number of
cation ions, base saturate rate, and other chemical
properties. So it is used as an important parameter to
value the relationship between water, fertilizer, gas,
and heat in the soil. An ideal soil three-phase ratio is:
the solid phase is 50%, the liquid phase is 20% ~ 30%,
and the gas phase is 20% ~ 30%.
Figure 3: Effects of soil improved by mushroom substrate
on the three-phases of soil.
The results of the three-phase of the soil adding
ripe mushroom substrate (Figure 3) show that with the
increase of the mushroom substrate, the solid phase
value decreased, and the soil gas and liquid value
increased. The comparison of solid phase value is：
CK - 46.43% > T1 - 41.62% > T2 - 40.63% > T3 -
35.77% > T4 - 30.34%. Compared with CK, solid
phase value decreased by 26.38% in T4 treatment.
The results show that the addition of the mushroom
substrate can change the soil three-phase, reduce the
soil solid phase value effectively, and increase the gas
and liquid phase value, which can effectively change
the soil compaction, hardening, and other problems
caused by the long-term tillage.
3.1.3 Soil Field Capacity
Soil field capacity is one of the most important
components of soil. It plays an important role in the
formation and development of soil and the migration
of matter and energy in the soil. Soil water is the
material basis for the survival and growth of plants,
and is the main source of crop water (Sun et al., 2007).
Figure 4: Effect of soil improved by mushroom substrate on
soil field capacity.
The plowing horizon soil was sectionally
collected every 5cm, and the soil field capacity was
measured. As shown in Figure 4, the soil field
capacity increased with the increase of the soil depth
of plowing horizon soil. Except for the soil of 0-5cm,
mushroom substrate and soil field capacity were
almost the same. soil field capacity was increased in
the soil horizons of 5 - 10 cm, 10 - 15 cm, and 15 - 20
cm. With the mushroom substrate increasing, soil
field capacity also tended to increase. In the depth of
5 - 10 cm and compared with CK, soil field capacity
in treatments respectively increased by 6.60%,
10.69%, 15.73%, 17.19%; in the depth of 10 - 15 cm
and compared with CK, soil field capacity in test areas
respectively increased by 15.46%, 19.00%, 26.77%,
17.19%; in the depth of 15 - 20 cm and compared with
CK, soil field capacity content in treatments
respectively increased by 14.98%, 17.36%, 20.31%,
18.90%. The results show that the addition of
mushroom substrate can increase the soil field
capacity of plowing horizon soil and then improve
soil field capacity conservation and the efficiency of
water utilization.
3.1.4 Soil Nutrients and pH
Soil fertility degradation mainly refers to the barren
soil nutrient and the loss of soil’s effective nutrient
supply mechanism. Element content and effectiveness
of soil nutrients are closely related to the composition
and the content of the nutrient elements in the plants
(Sun et al., 2007).
ABS 2022 - The International Conference on Agricultural and Biological Sciences
86
Table 2: Effect of the soil improved by the mushroom substrate on soil nutrients and pH.
Treatment
Organic
matter
(g kg
-1
)
Total
nitrogen
(g kg
-1
)
Total
phosphorus
(g kg
-1
)
Total
potassium
(g kg
-1
)
Alkaline
nitrogen
(m g kg
-1
)
Alkaline
phosphorus
(mg kg
-1
)
Available
potassium
(mg kg
-1
)
pH
CK
36.15 c 1.63 b 1.65 b 22.57 a 98.46 b 111.33 c 388.06 c 6.23 a
T1
38.79 b 1.65 b 1.70 b 22.57 a 100.57 b 113.00 c 405.10 b 6.24 a
T2
39.15 b 1.68 b 1.85 b 23.41 a 106.90 b 126.67 b 383.24 c 6.29 a
T3
40.22 b 1.82 a 1.89 a 21.88 a 109.01 b 134.00 b 405.18 b 6.24 a
T4
42.42 a 1.85 a 1.89 a 23.20 a 127.29 a 146.00 a 427.50 a 6.27 a
Note: Different loweercase letters in the same column mean a significant difference bwtween treatments. (LSD, P <
0.05). The same below.
Table 3: Effects of the soil improved by the mushroom substrate on soil microorganisms, earthworms, and activity of soil
enzymes.
Treatment
Bacteria
(×10
4
)
Fungi
(×10
4
)
Actinamyces
(×10
4
)
Earthworms
(Each
quadrat)
Catalase
(0.1N KMnO
4
mL g
-1
)
Ourease
(NH
3
-N mg
100g
-1
)
Intervase
(Glucose mg g
-1
)
C
K
24.44
d
1.07 c 6.87 c 3.00
d
5.07 b 5.02 c 6.66 b
T1 34.00 c
d
1.73 b 7.88 c 6.33 c 5.29 ab 5.52 c 6.95 b
T2 42.30 bc 1.30 c 8.16 c 8.67 bc 6.03 ab 10.05 b 7.72 a
T3 51.70 b 2.01 b 12.92 b 11.00 b 6.49 a 10.18 b 8.50 a
T4 79.64 a 3.98 a 23.89 a 17.33 a 6.56 a 14.13 a 8.90 a
After the harvest of the potatoes, the soil nutrients
influence of the mushroom substrate addition is
shown in table 2. Different mushroom substrate
addition made no significant difference to soil total
potassium and pH, while making a great difference to
the soil organic matter, total nitrogen, total
phosphorus, total potassium, alkaline nitrogen,
alkaline phosphorus, and alkaline potassium.
Compared to CK, with the increase of the amount of
the mushroom substrate added in, soil organic matter,
total nitrogen, total phosphorus, alkaline nitrogen, and
alkaline phosphorus content tended to increase. The
reasons for the phenomenon above are1) edible
fungus cultivation material itself contains large
amounts of organic matter; 2) the addition of the
mushroom substrate improves the soil physical
properties, which improves the soil aeration and the
permeable performance, influences the activity of the
soil microorganisms, and then activates the nutrient
content in the soil.
Compared to CK, organic matter increased by
17.34%, total nitrogen by 13.50%, total phosphorus
by 14.55%, total potassium by 2.79%, alkaline
nitrogen by 29.28%, alkaline phosphorus by 31.14%,
and alkaline potassium by 10.16% in treatment T4.
After the growth of edible fungus mycelium, there are
many residual nutrients, from which plants can absorb
organic matter, carbon, and nitrogen nutrient for the
growing need. Therefore, the edible mushroom
substrate can supply good organic matter for the crops.
Soil organic matter is an important source of a variety
of nutrients in the soil, especially NPK. Because soil
organic matters can absorb many positive ions, the
soil can conserve the fertilizer well and has good
buffering. The content of organic matter in the soil is
an important index of the soil fertility. The mushroom
substrate plays little role in the soil pH and there is no
significant difference among the treatments.
3.2 Effects of Soil Improved by the
Mushroom Substrate on Soil
Microorganisms and the Activity of
Soil Enzymes
The quantity, distribution, and activity of
microorganisms in the soil reflect soil fertility, so they
are commonly used as biological indicators for the
evaluation of soil quality, maintaining productivity,
environment protection quality, and a healthy system
maintenance (Zhou, 1987). The addition of the
mushroom substrate significantly increased the
number of bacterium, fungus, and actinomycetes in
the soil. As shown in Table 3 comparing to CK, the
total number of microorganisms respectively
increased by 34.68% in T1, 59.83% in T2, 105.77%
in T3, and 232.06% in T4.
The earthworms can improve the soil, promote the
decomposition and the mineralization of organic
Analysis of Physicochemical and Biological Characters by Applying Mushroom Substrate into Soil in Cold Region
87
matters, and the nutrients cycling, which help the
potatoes grow. Furthermore, the earthworms can
reflect the soil fertility status and soil productivity.
That is to say, they are soil environmental indicators.
Due to long-term tillage, there was no earthworm in
the tested soil before treatment. The number of
earthworms in the soil significantly increased with the
increase of the amount of the mushroom substrate
addition, as shown in Table 3. Soil enzymes are the
core of the soil ecosystem (Huang and Xu, 2013), and
it mainly comes from the secretion of soil
microorganisms, the secretion of the plant root system,
residues of plants, and the decomposition of soil fauna.
The activity of soil enzymes are a potential indicator
of soil biological activity and maintenance of soil
fertility. Soil catalases come from fungus and
bacterium, and it may come from the plant roots. Soil
catalase can promote the decomposition of hydrogen
peroxide in the soil (Sun et al., 2007), and is
conducive to preventing hydrogen peroxide from
hurting the plant roots in the soil (Xue et al., 2005).
Urease is an obligate enzyme, and urea can only be
hydrolyzed under the function of urease. Nitrogen,
product of urease’s enzymatic reaction, is one of the
nitrogen sources the plants need. Its activity can
reflect the amount of nitrogen in soil. Soil sucrase is
widely found in the soil and it directly participates in
the metabolism of soil organic matters (He et al.,
2003). In general, intervase the higher the soil fertility
is, the stronger the enzyme activity is. The activity of
the intervase can not only reflect the soil biological
activity, but also can be used as an indicator of soil
maturation and the soil fertility. mushroom substrate
added to the soil significantly strengthened the
activity of soil catalase, urease and intervase. As
shown in table 3, the mushroom substrate added to the
soil strengthened the activity of soil microorganisms
and changed the environment of soil microorganisms.
3.3 Effects of Soil Improved by the
Yield Traits
Adding mushroom substrate to the soil can increase
the yield of potatoes. As shown in table 4, with the
increase of the adding amount of the mushroom
substrate, the increasing rate of potato yield also
increased. Compared to CK, yield in T1 increased by
12.82%, T2 by 27.90%, T3 by 50.74%, and T4 by
63.41%. The mushroom substrate added to the soil
increased the big and medium size of the potato,
reduced the small one, and increased the starch
content of the potato.
Table 4: Effects of soil improved by mushroom substrate on potato yield and quality.
Treatment
Rate of big
tuber
(
%
)
Rate of medium
tuber
(
%
)
Rate of small
tuber
(
%
)
Starch content
(
%
)
Yield
(
k
g
hm
2)
Increasing
rate
(
%
)
CK 23.27 d 45.38 a 31.35 a 12.59 c 25423.90 c -
T1 33.02 c 36.58 b 30.40 ab 14.57 b 28684.17 bc 12.82
T2 35.89 bc 40.04 ab 24.08 abc 14.57 b 32517.67 b 27.90
T3 39.72 b 38.76 ab 21.52 bc 15.91 ab 38323.58 a 50.74
T4 47.41 a 32.80 b 19.80 c 16.59 a 41544.74 a 63.41
4 DISCUSSION
The mushroom substrate is light in weight and small
in density, which can improve the soil structure. For
example, Shi et al. (2014) found that Hericium
Erinaceus substrate could reduce the soil bulk density
and increase the soil porosity as a saline-alkali soil
modifier; Dai et al. (2014) improved saline-alkali soil
with Agaricus Bisporus substrate and the results
showed that the substrate could reduce soil bulk
density. This study demonstrated that mushroom
substrate addition reduced the soil hardness, in which
the water capability increased and the soil pore was
enlarged with a decrease in solid phase ratio. This is
beneficial for the water intake and usage of the crops.
General methods for soil fertility are organic fertilizer
addition and straw returning in China (Zhang et al.,
2019). The low-temperature condition in northern
China, especially in Heilongjiang Province, reduces
the decomposition rate of straw seriously, so the straw
is an improper material for soil improvement. The
mushroom substrate in which cellulose and lignin
have been largely decomposed plays an active role in
soil improvement and makes a positive significance
for chemical fertilizer reduction and rapid soil
fertilizing (Wang et al., 2017; Sun et al., 2007). The
soil nutrient content increased after the mushroom
substrate addition in this research. The possible
ABS 2022 - The International Conference on Agricultural and Biological Sciences
88
reasons are as follows: 1) the mushroom substrate
produces plenty of organic matters such as
polysaccharides, monosaccharides, amino acids, and
other nutrients with the mycelia growth; 2) biological
enzymes and other secondary metabolites are secreted
to the cultivation matrix. Zhang et al. (2019) believed
that mushroom substrate could promote plant growth
and root development, improve the root exudates, and
then increase the content of soil organic carbon. A
large number of studies showed that mushroom
substrate was capable of increasing the content of soil
organic matter and nutrients (Zeng et al., 2015; Sun et
al., 2007). The soil organic matter fertilized the soil
and affected the microbiological characteristics. The
addition of mushroom substrate increased the number
of soil microorganisms and soil enzyme activity
during potato maturity. On the one hand, the
mushroom substrate contained a large number of
microorganisms, especially fungi with high-energy
cellulose degradation, which was a good biological
agent (Wang et al., 2007). On the other hand, it
increased the water capacity and organic matter,
which also provided raw materials and growth
conditions for the growth of soil microorganisms. The
nutrients in the mushroom substrate provided a
carbon source and energy for microorganisms and
enhance the activity and quantity of microorganisms
(Feng et al., 2019). Cao et al. (2017) thought that the
high microbial content improved and optimized the
growth environment of plants effectively, reduced
diseases and pests greatly, and formed a good growth
mode. The results above generally showed the
addition of mushroom substrate could effectively
increase the yield of potatoes.
Adding Organic fertilizer, returning straw in soil
and other methods are adopted in China to enrich the
soil. While low temperature in the cold region in
northern China seriously obstructs the decomposing
of straw. Greatly degraded cellulose and lignin in the
mushroom substrate are of positive significance for
the rapid fertilization of the soil. The physical and
chemical properties of different edible fungus wastes
differ a lot. If we use the mushroom substrate as a
material to improve the soil, we should do the
research according to the physicochemical properties
of the mushroom substrate and soil. The mushroom
substrate itself contains a large number of
microorganisms, and there was no sterilization in this
research. We should analyze the change in the
diversity of the soil microorganisms in the soil with a
long-term addition of the mushroom substrate, as well
as the comprehensive evaluation of the effect on the
environment at the same time. There will be further
research into the conversion process of organic
carbon contained in the mushroom substrate in the
future.
5 CONCLUSION
In this study, by adding different amounts of the
mushroom substrate into the soil to improve soil, the
conclusions are as follows:
1. The mushroom substrate added to the soil improves
the soil physicochemical properties in the cold region.
With the increase of the adding amount of the
mushroom substrate, the penetration resistance in the
plowing horizon soil is reduced, the soil gas and liquid
phase are increased, soil field capacity in the plowing
horizon is increased, the soil fertility is heightened,
and organic matters, nitrogen, phosphorus, and
potassium tend to rise generally.
2. The mushroom substrate added to the soil in the
cold region activates the soil microorganisms,
earthworm, and the activity of soil enzymes.
3. The mushroom substrate added to the soil increases
the crop yield and related the yield traits. The yield of
potato increased by 12.82%, 27.90%, 50.74%, and
63.41%. The rate of the big potato increased, as well
as the content of starch.
4. The results show that when the mushroom substrate
was added to the soil at 7.5 kg m
-2
, 10 kg m
-2
, soil
physicochemical properties, the activity of soil
microorganisms, and the crop yield were significantly
increased.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Strategic Priority
Research Program of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences (Grant No. XDA28100202,
XDA28010403). The Agricultural Science and
Technology Innovation Leaping Project of
Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences
(HNK2019CX1304, HNK2019CX14,
HNK2019CX07-12).
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