Chapter 29: The Secret of Truffles (Ch 808739722)

January 25th.
Maybe it’s because it’s close to the New Year, the weather has changed from the rainy days of the past few days, and there is a rare warm sun today.
Jiang Miao gathered all the out-of-town employees who were preparing to return home and took out a large stack of red envelopes.
“Come on! Do a good job!”
Hand over a red envelope of 888 yuan.
Zhang Xinyi quickly took it with both hands: “Thank you, boss! Happy New Year!”
“Happy New Year!”
Soon, more than 20 out-of-town employees received New Year’s red envelopes of 888 yuan, and then pulled their suitcases and took the company’s five pickup trucks to the high-speed rail station or bus station.
Lin Shuya, who was standing by, looked at the company, which had become much quieter. She exhaled, rubbed her red palms, and asked with a smile, “You should stay in the company for the next few days, right?”
“Well, the company must have management staying.”
“I don’t have anything to do. It takes time to collect samples from southern Yunnan. We have collected about 5 kilograms of truffle samples so far. Alpinia arborescens will not be available until July or August, and Matsutake will also be available in July or August.”
Jiang Miao squatted down and touched the big yellow dog he brought from his hometown. It was this guy who discovered that he was struck by lightning and fainted. He rubbed its head and fed it a piece of eel meat.
“How’s the truffle research going?”
Lin Shuya gave him some basic information: “At present, many places have conducted research on the cultivation technology of black truffles and white truffles. Among them, the Agricultural and Forestry Research Institute of Panshi City completed the cultivation technology of simulating wild environment in 2003.”
“The yield per mu should be very embarrassing!”
“That’s right.” Lin Shuya answered as she squatted down and watched Dahuang eating the eel meat.
The reason why Jiang Miao guessed that the per-acre yield of white truffles was embarrassing was because the market price reflected the actual production situation.
If Panshi’s Agricultural and Forestry Research Institute can achieve large-scale production of white truffles, the market price of white truffles will definitely fall.
However, Jiang Miao learned from the purchasing department’s reports that the price of white truffles in recent years has remained at around 400 to 1,000 yuan per kilogram, with an average of around 580 yuan per kilogram.
Since the market price has not plummeted, it means that the technology of Panshi Agricultural and Forestry Research Institute cannot achieve large-scale mass production and can only be cultivated on a small scale in a simulated wild environment.
“Dahuang, let’s go!” Jiang Miao pulled the dog leash.
On the country road to South Lake Farm.
The sun was shining brightly in the morning. Although the north wind was still reluctant to take a holiday, the sun still brought a touch of warmth to pedestrians.
The two of them took Da Huang and walked to the temporary edible fungi laboratory at Nanhu Farm.
Twenty minutes later.
At the foot of the hillside on the north side of the farm is a temporary laboratory built in a container house.
Jiang Miao, who had changed into a set of protective clothing, saw the bags made by Lin Shuya using sawdust, soil, quicklime and gypsum. There were more than a hundred bags in total.
These bags were formulated in different proportions, with 10 bags in a group, for a total of 14 control groups.
Through the identification panel, Jiang Miao saw the situation of the white truffles in these bags.
Among them, the growth conditions of three groups were better. Jiang Miao took a look at the labels and a look of “as expected” appeared in his eyes.
Because these three groups of bag materials, one group is the forest soil from the white truffle producing area of ​​Panshi, and the other two groups are artificial soil imitated based on the composition of the forest soil in Panshi.
‘Sure enough, the trace elements in the soil have a great influence on the growth of white truffles, among which phosphorus, magnesium, manganese and selenium in the soil are essential for white truffles.’
‘And it’s not just a matter of supplementing these elements, because white truffles have different absorption and utilization rates for the compounds of these elements.’
‘For example, white truffles can effectively utilize the phosphates in the soil, and this requires the soil pH to be appropriate. White truffles will not utilize other phosphates.’
‘So it is very difficult to feed white truffles with fertilizers because they do not like artificial fertilizers. To be precise, they do not have the corresponding genes to absorb artificial fertilizers.’
‘Just like there are people who are lactose intolerant among humans, not all trace element compounds in white truffles can be absorbed and utilized.’
‘In addition, the corresponding temperature, humidity and organic matter are also required. These require specific conditions to ensure the rapid growth of white truffles.’
Jiang Miao, wearing gloves, picked up one of the bags and said, “Shuya, look at this bag. Is there already some mycelium?”
“Let me take a look.”
Lin Shuya quickly took out a magnifying glass and observed the bags of materials. Jiang Miao helped her record the corresponding data.
“Huh, is that true?”
After observing all 140 bags of materials, Lin Shuya looked at the data compiled by Jiang Miao and murmured to herself: “The soil brought back from Panshi really has an effect on white truffles. The two sets of artificial soil that imitated the soil in Panshi also had an effect.”
Jiang Miao smiled and reminded her: “You can create some more control groups. For example, try using chemical fertilizers and natural minerals to artificially increase the content of some trace elements in the cultivation soil to see if there is any difference.”
“What you said makes sense. Maybe white truffles need some natural mineral nutrients that are not artificially synthesized, similar to the artificial breeding technology for eels that you developed.” Lin Shuya has obviously reacted.
Jiang Miao continued, “In addition, the few acres of greenhouses should also be upgraded after the Chinese New Year. The internal temperature, humidity and light intensity should be controllable so that the various conditions required for the growth of white truffles, even some dynamic conditions, can be tested.”
“Then there is the soil pH. After all, among the 50 soil samples collected from Panshi, the soil that white truffles like to grow in is alkaline lime soil, with a pH of 8.1 to 8.2. Obviously, this is also an important influencing factor. Nowadays, many fertilizers will change the pH of the soil. I suspect that fertilizers will have a counterproductive effect on the cultivation of white truffles.”
Lin Shuya wrote down his thoughts.
“In addition, the types of organic matter in the soil brought back are also a direction worth studying. After all, as a symbiotic fungus, it needs to attach to the roots of specific trees to grow, which means that these trees provide some specific nutrients for white truffles.”
Lin Shuya nodded in agreement: “Indeed, it seems that I need to expand the scale of the experiment and add a control group before I can observe all the conditions required for the growth of white truffles.”
After all, in order to mass-produce white truffles, its growth cycle must be shortened while ensuring that its flavor components accumulate sufficiently.
Therefore, only by studying all the growth conditions of white truffles can we prescribe the right remedy to shorten the growth time while retaining its flavor.
Currently, the growth cycle of white truffles in the natural environment is as long as 7 to 8 years. Obviously, this time is too long and does not meet the requirements of commercial production at all.
This is also one of the reasons why the wild-simulated cultivation technology of Panshi Agricultural and Forestry Research Institute is difficult to promote.
Their technology can only produce 40 to 60 kilograms of white truffles per mu, which can be sold for about 24,000 to 36,000 yuan according to the current market price.
However, the planting cycle takes seven or eight years, and when it comes to the harvest year, it can only be harvested for a few years. After a few years, it is necessary to replant or carry out natural afforestation to ensure that the organic matter in the soil can recover.
Obviously, the time cost is too high and it involves huge risks. No farmer is willing to gamble seven or eight years.
Just like in recent years, many small mushroom companies have deceived farmers into growing morels.
Can this thing be grown?
Can.
The prerequisite is to have technical support from provincial agricultural and forestry institutions, plus good luck. Otherwise, if you blindly plant morels, there is a high probability that you will lose all your money.
Because morels are very picky about temperature and humidity, and the temperature and humidity they require are conflicting with each other. Ordinary greenhouses do not have temperature control systems and humidity control systems, so they can only rely on the weather.
With luck, there will be a good harvest in the first year.
If you are unlucky, it is normal to have no harvest for several consecutive years.
The reason why Jiang Miao did not let Lin Shuya study morels is because the technology for large-scale cultivation of morels has already been developed, which is to use a greenhouse with full temperature and humidity control, coupled with soil disinfection, to ensure continuous harvests.
The problem is that the cost of doing so is very high, and the price of morels is not too high, which will result in the output value not being able to cover the production costs, causing investors to lose money.