"Incorporating wood sawdust and chips into field soils stimulates fungal growth. In particular, incorporation of hardwood material resulted in rapid and long-term stimulation of fungal filamentous growth. The fungi that develop are not the wood rot basidiomycetes found in forests but ascomycetes (sac fungi) that have easy access to the cellulose polymers in shredded wood."

"Stimulating fungi through wood addition fits well with more sustainable agriculture. It suppresses plant pathogenic fungi and the excess nitrogen, which might otherwise wash out, is captured by the fungi. It also increases the overall diversity of soil life by providing fungal-eating soil creatures with a food source."

nioo.knaw.nl/en/news/the-hidde…

#Fungi #Microbes #Soil #Environment #Nature #Science #Biodiversity #FungiFriday

The hidden world of wood-decaying fungi

Of all the components of dead plants, wood is the hardest to break down. How come fungi know how to do this? What issues did they need to solve to achieve this? The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) tries to find answers to these questions…

^nioo.knaw.nl