Lightning-like electricity makes mushrooms multiply
April 11th, 2010 - 12:49 pm ICT by ANI
Washington, Apr 11 (ANI): When exposed to lightning-like electricity, mushrooms start multiplying, according to an ongoing research.
For decades, farmers in Japan have welcomed storms over their fields, as they believe that lightning strikes provoke plentiful harvests of mushrooms, which are staples of Japanese cuisine, reports National Geographic News.
Now, in four-year study, boffins in northern Japan bombarded a variety of mushrooms in lab-based garden plots with artificially induced lightning to see if electricity actually makes the fungi multiply.
The results showed that lightning-strength jolts of electricity can more than double the yield of certain mushroom species compared with conventional cultivation methods.
“We have tried these experiments with ten types of mushroom so far and have found that it is effective in eight species,” said Koichi Takaki, an associate professor in engineering at Iwate University.
“We saw the best effects in shiitake and nameko mushrooms, while we also tested reishi mushrooms, which are not edible but are used in certain types of traditional Chinese medicine,” he said. (ANI)
- Japan bans shipment of shiitake mushrooms near Fukushima nuke plant - Apr 13, 2011
- Extra-long electrical arcs could generate rain - Nov 09, 2011
- 7 new glow-in-the-dark mushroom species discovered - Oct 06, 2009
- Volcanoes 'may have kick-started life on Earth' - Mar 22, 2011
- Rudolf gets high on magic mushrooms to escape winter's monotony! - Dec 22, 2010
- Children living on farms 'less prone to asthma than others' - Feb 24, 2011
- Ball lightning 'just a hallucination caused by regular lightning' - May 15, 2010
- Strong quake hits Japan - Mar 27, 2012
- Oh jolly, it's Tahitian coco prawns - Aug 12, 2011
- Scientists developing salt-resistant rice - Jan 23, 2012
- Did Europeans use magic mushrooms to get high 6000 yrs ago? - Mar 07, 2011
- How mushrooms evolved alongside humans - Mar 04, 2011
- Secret of mushroom structure uncovered - Dec 13, 2009
- Stop fungal disease in crops, feed 600 million - Apr 12, 2012
- Israel develops green pesticide - Dec 29, 2011
Tags: associate professor, boffins, chinese medicine, conventional cultivation methods, electricity, fungi, garden plots, harvests, japanese cuisine, jolts, lightning strikes, mushroom species, mushrooms, national geographic, national geographic news, northern japan, ongoing research, shiitake, staples, traditional chinese medicine