Recent Advances in Cultivation of Edible Mushrooms

Mushrooms are known to be extremely rich in nutritional and therapeutic properties. An increase in knowledge about these attributes has led to a positive impact on their cultivation in the last few years. Global production of edible mushrooms has increased almost 30 times during 1978–2013, indicating a rise in mushroom consumption all over the world. China leads the world and is the major producer and consumer of edible mushrooms, producing more than 30 billion kg (almost 87% of global production). Apart from multidimensional benefits of mushroom agro-industry, the mushroom cultivation improves the socio-economic scenario and benefits the environment in numerous ways. The objective of this chapter is to introduce the recent trends in mushroom cultivation and production of some of the largest growing edible mushrooms like Lentinula edodes in the world.