Korea Forest Service "Successful Cultivation of Medicinal Mushrooms Using Trees Damaged by Wildfires"

A new path has opened for cultivating medicinal mushrooms using trees damaged by forest fires.

The Korea Forest Service announced on the 27th that it has succeeded in cultivating the medicinal mushroom "Poria cocos (Bokryeong, 茯笭)" using pine trees damaged by forest fires. This success in cultivating medicinal mushrooms comes two years after establishing a research site for Poria cocos cultivation using fire-damaged pine trees in national forests in 2022.

Medicinal mushroom Poria cocos cultivated from pine trees damaged by forest fires. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

Poria cocos is a forest mushroom formed on the roots of pine trees, where the Poria fungus penetrates dead pine wood. It is known for its effects such as anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties, and is used as a medicinal ingredient in traditional herbal medicine and health supplements.

The Korea Forest Service expects that the successful cultivation of Poria cocos using fire-damaged trees will help compensate the income of forestry workers who lost pine mushroom harvesting sites due to forest fires and increase the utilization of fire-damaged trees that are otherwise discarded after logging.

Poria cocos produced from fire-damaged trees can generate income of around 600,000 KRW per 3.3 square meters.

Nam Sung-hyun, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, “We have succeeded in cultivating highly effective Poria cocos using pine trees damaged by forest fires. The Korea Forest Service will devote itself to research to restore fire-damaged areas and develop more alternative income crops to help preserve the income of forestry workers.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.