We used to call mushrooms mushrooms and boletus, which look great on a table served for dinner. But about their real nature we argue unless in the lessons of botany or in the case of rare “near-scientific” conversations. The structure, mode of existence, and even more so the propagation of mushrooms for most of the population remain "a secret, covered in darkness." Yes, the topic is special. Nevertheless , it is desirable for an educated person to have a minimal understanding of everything. Is not it?
Description of a living organism
Before delving into the entertaining and confusing topic "Methods of propagation of mushrooms," let's find out what they are. It is important and very
interesting. Looking ahead, we say that the reproduction of mushrooms is not an easy process. You can’t describe it like that in two words. But let's get it in order. Mushrooms are living organisms that are characterized by traits of both plants and animals. A kind of symbiosis of both. Their kingdom is huge! It includes the fungi themselves and mycoids (the so-called mushroom-like organisms). Currently, more than one hundred thousand of their species are known, although scientists are sure that they have studied only a third of those existing in nature. This hypothesis can hardly be questioned, since the existence and propagation of mushrooms, as it turns out, can take place in the most difficult and unimaginable conditions. Science has come to the conclusion that these
living organisms have no common roots with plants. They came from special microorganisms that lived in the ocean. With plants, mushrooms are brought together by the structure of the cell wall, stationarity, the ability to reproduce by spores, and the synthesis of vitamins. In addition, they absorb nutrients from the soil. They also have common features with animals. Namely: mushrooms accumulate glycogen in the form of a reserve, excrete urea, are not able to create nutrients themselves.
A little bit about the structure
To imagine the reproduction of mushrooms, you need to know how they look. After all, it is not clear what exactly will be recreated. Mushrooms for the most part consist of a vegetative body. This is not at all what we see and collect. This organism is actually a huge mass of thin, colorless threads called “mycelium” or “mycelium”. It is divided into two parts.
One is in the ground and is responsible for nutrition. The second is close to the surface. This part is engaged in the formation of reproductive organs (we call them mushrooms). The living organism itself can very cunningly adapt to the environment, modifying the vegetative body. For example, parasites can take root in the "donor", sucking nutrients from it.
Mushroom propagation methods
Since this is a whole separate world of living organisms that do not have “relatives” in the environment of animals and plants, it exists in its own way. Reproduction of fungi can be sexual, asexual or vegetative. Some of their species give birth to their kind by budding. That is, practically all methods known to science are available. If you consider in more detail, then there are their own characteristics and nuances.
So,
asexual reproduction of fungi occurs in the mycelium. A separate cell of this thread can form a separate organism. In addition, to "continue the genus", these organisms create special processes - the reproductive organ. In fungi, it appears mainly in the warm, humid period. Those elements from which a new organism can develop are called the diaspora.
Vegetative propagation of mushrooms
These organisms can appear even from one cell, which is a diaspora. Most often, the part that becomes an independent organism is separated from the mycelium. With this method, the reproductive organ is not needed. Mushrooms are just part
the mycelium is separated from the main organism, budded, so to speak. From it grows a new one. Another mycelium of some varieties can form oidia (light processes of strings). A new organism appears from them. This is a kind of transitional form from vegetative to asexual reproduction. To see this process in nature does not work. Everything happens in the soil (the environment where the mycelium grows).
Asexual reproduction
This process is more open. It is carried out through controversy. They are very small and light. Do not drown in water, are carried by the wind, stick to animal hair. So they travel. Once in suitable conditions, they begin to develop. Disputes are divided into resting and propaganda, mobile and motionless. Low-organized mushrooms are equipped with a more aggressive propagation mechanism. They are characterized by mobile spores equipped with a flagellum. They can fly up to a thousand kilometers. The asexual propagation of the fungi that we are accustomed to occurs through immobile spores. They are also different. For simplicity, we divide them into endogenous and exogenous. The first are formed inside sporangia. Such spores have a dense shell. The amount depends on the specific type of fungus. Some mushrooms have only one spore (conidia). The methods of their formation are very diverse. For the most part, they form at the tops of the conidiophores.
Sexual reproduction
There are variations too. Sexual reproduction of fungi can take place in various ways associated with the formation of a zygote. One of them is gametogamy. This method is characteristic of low-organized mushrooms. It can be interpreted as
fusion of two cells (gametes). In some species they are the same, in others they vary in size. Still gametes differ in mobility. That is, nature "trained" on mushrooms, developing methods of reproduction. These species of organisms lack traditional oogamy (immobile female and mobile male cells). The sexual reproduction of fungi can take the form of gametogamy. This method is characteristic of highly organized organisms. Somatogamy is the most typical for sexual reproduction in fungi. The process is that the spores germinate and merge into shells, then into nuclei. A new organism develops from them.
About hat mushrooms
The theory, of course, is interesting, but to understand the processes it is advisable to "touch" an example. Consider the propagation of hat mushrooms. We can see and explore them. What people collect for eating is called fruiting bodies. Their mushrooms are grown in order to organize the process of reproduction. In science they are also called "sporulation organs". They consist of hats and legs, which are dense bundles of hyphae. Disputes are at the top. The hat has two compartments. Upper - dense, covered with painted skin. Underneath is the bottom layer. In some species it is lamellar, in others it is tubular. Disputes rest in this layer.
For example, russula and champignon have a lamellar structure, and butter and boletus have a tubular structure. Up to millions of spores mature in this layer. They get enough sleep on the soil, carried by wind or animals, insects, water. This is the process of reproduction.
Why mushrooms are cut and not torn
Since people collect “sporulation organs”, they interfere with the reproduction of these organisms in addition to their will. If you just pick up the "bag of seeds", the mushroom will grow new. In fact, it is huge and creates not one, but
many "sporulation organs". And when we pull out a camelina or a boletus, we inflict huge damage on the mycelium (the fungus itself). It takes a long time to restore it. It may happen that in this area it will not grow. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully trim the leg so as not to harm the mycelium.
It is interesting
Scientists are very carefully studying these living organisms. They are not just being watched, many experiments are being conducted with them. Some of which are shocking. So, it is known that Japanese researchers came to the conclusion that yellow yeast is reasonable. They conducted an experiment in which they forced this organism to grow in a "maze" where sugar was hidden. It turned out that the yellow mold “remembers” the path by which it reached the goodies. The shoot taken from this organism grew straight to the place where the sugar was! But this is just the simplest mushroom that propagates vegetatively.