"The per mu yield of Morchella is far from the upper limit, and there is a huge space for development. Morchella cultivation is an agricultural project with considerable benefits." On the evening of March 10, the seminar on Morchella cultivation techniques in the northern region of the Third National Morchella Congress was held in Shangri-La, Yunnan Province. Lu Xue, a senior engineer at the Institute of Biology, Gansu Academy of Sciences, said in his report "Practice and Exploration of Morchella Cultivation in Gannan Plateau of Gansu Province".

According to reports, Gannan is located in the transition zone between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Loess Plateau, with a high terrain in the northwest and a low terrain in the southeast. The territory is 1100 - 4900 meters above sea level, most of which are over 3000 meters. Gannan is divided into three natural types, the southern part of which is Mindi Mountains, with deep mountains and valleys and mild climate, and is one of the important forest areas in the province; the eastern part is hilly and mountainous areas, cold and humid, with both agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry; the northwest part is a vast meadow grassland, which is the main pastoral area of Gannan Province. Gannan is located in the plateau with low annual temperature, with an average annual temperature of only 4 degrees. The weather in the plateau is changeable, with frequent storms, large temperature difference between day and night, and strong sunshine. The occurrence season of wild Morchella in plateau area is from April to May every year. It occurs widely in broad-leaved forests such as birch and oak, and in open grasslands near the edge of the forest after rains at the turn of spring and summer. It also occurs occasionally from October to November every year. Wild Morchella in this area mostly occurs in loamy, clayy and brown soil with more humus. The soil is rich in trace elements such as magnesium, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, boron and molybdenum.

Lu et al. pointed out that there are seven kinds of wild Morchella in this area, including Morchella esculenta, Morchella crassipes, Morchella conica, Morchella angusticeps, Morchella deliciosa, Morchella purpurens and Morchella semilibera. Morchella purpurascens and Morchella semilibera are newly recorded species in Gansu Province.

He also introduced that, because it is located in the cold and humid climate zone, the average altitude is over 3000 meters, the annual average temperature is between 1-13 degrees Celsius, the temperature difference between day and night is large, the plateau Morchella has been known for its big cap, thick meat, full-pointed type, strong smell, and become an important producing area of high-quality products of Morchella.  The average crude protein content and amino acid content of Morchella plateau were 28.31% and 19.45 mg/100g respectively.

Gannan Prefecture of Gansu Province began to test-grow Morchella in 2013. In 2014, the cultivation area expanded to 30 mu, but it is still in the experimental stage. In 2015, the test-planting area was 130 mu, which has already met the conditions for field popularization. In 2016, the area was 400 mu, with the highest yield of 240 KG/mu.

In the report, Lu et al. also introduced the cultivation mode of the local enterprise Gannan Zhouqu Tianhe Fungus Technology Co., Ltd. First, simple greenhouse, with bamboo pole as support, with supporting film line as shading net laying support to build flat roof, low cost, easy to build and dismantle, easy to install water sprinkler facilities, personnel access, harvesting and observation, large-scale cultivation in mild climate areas mostly in the middle of the greenhouse. In the aspect of preservation and propagation of strains, through the innovation of methods of isolation, preservation and propagation of strains, the problem of rapid degradation and non-transformation of strains has been broken through. By August 2016, a 6,000-square-meter germ preservation and propagation base has been built, with an annual production of 3 million bags of cultivated species, which provides favorable germ protection for the cultivation of Morchella in this area.

The enterprise also uses steel-framed greenhouse for steep or flat-roofed steel-framed greenhouse, which is more expensive to build. It is mostly used in areas requiring continuous use and areas with relatively poor environmental conditions. It is used after the transformation of vegetable greenhouse or other horticultural facilities.

In order to ensure high yield and high efficiency, the sclerotia formation was stimulated by matrix nutrition regulation, which greatly improved the "solidification" and reproductive coefficient of the strain; the coupling of environment and nutrition factors greatly improved the morchella; the transformation rate of mycelia from vegetative growth to reproductive growth laid the physiological foundation for high yield; and the climate bottleneck was broken through through the technological innovation of thermo-phosgene regulation. In 2016, Zhouqu achieved a high yield of 243 KG/mu, with a large area of 250-300 kg/mu and a low yield of 0-100 kg/mu. Speaking of cultivation benefits, Lu et al. indicated that it is normal to achieve a large area of 300 kg fresh mushrooms per mu under the support of reliable cultivation techniques and excellent strains. According to the current purchase price estimates, the yield per mu is about 24,000 yuan, the net income can reach 16,000-18,000 yuan, and the input-output ratio can reach 1:2-3. It is noteworthy that the yield per mu of Morchella is far from the upper limit, and there is a huge space for development. Morchella cultivation is an agricultural project with considerable benefits.

For the future, he hopes to build Gannan into the largest artificial plateau Morchella cultivation base in Northwest China through 3-5 years of efforts; to build plateau characteristic industry development through resource integration, policy support; to bring into play enterprise resource advantages, combined with external scientific research strength, standardize Morchella strain service system, optimize development environment, and to develop Morchella industry into a characteristic rich area in Gannan. Civil industry.