On Oct 16, Dr. Anton Sonnenberg and Dr. Arend van Peer from Wageningen University & Research Center (WUR) in the Netherlands conducted academic exchanges and collaborative research at IARRP.

They were invited by the Innovation Team of Edible Mushroom Genetics, Breeding and Cultivation of the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (IARRP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).

They delivered presentations entitled "QTL analyses in edible mushrooms; Where are we now?" and "Potential and tools for breeding of Ceriporiopsis to improve lignocellulose digestibility for ruminants". The seminar, hosted by Dr. Gao Wei, was attended by more than 20 researchers and graduate students from the IARRP.

Dr. Sonnenberg first presented research related to QTL in edible mushrooms such as Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus, and Lentinula edodes. He pointed out that compared to QTL analysis in plant breeding research, there are still a few reports on QTL analysis in edible mushrooms, and the advantageous loci identified in the studies have not been applied in breeding practices. He then discussed the close relationship between parental selection, choice of mapping methods, and QTL research. Finally, he proposed suggestions for improvements in mushroom breeding.

Dr. van Peer detailed the main work of the mushroom breeding team at Wageningen University in establishing a breeding platform for the efficient degradation of lignin by the fungus Ceriporiopsis subvermispora from three aspects: genetic variation, life history, and the establishment of a high-throughput phenotyping method. He also outlined a framework for future improvements in the breeding platform. After the presentations, both experts answered questions related to genetic breeding of edible mushrooms posed by researchers and graduate students, providing valuable guidance on some of the students' experimental work.

Furthermore, based on the collaborative research between our institute and the Plant Breeding Department of Wageningen University, the two experts engaged in in-depth discussions and exchanges with researchers and graduate students from the Innovation Team of Edible Mushroom Genetics, Breeding and Cultivation during the two-day visit.

The establishment of the Sino-Dutch Joint Laboratory for Edible Mushroom Research between the IARRP and Wageningen UR, Plant Breeding in 2014 has laid a solid foundation for cooperation and future development. The rich content and innovative results of this academic exchange have generated multiple new ideas for collaborative research in the joint laboratory, providing valuable experiences in cooperative research and talent exchange in the field of genetic breeding of edible mushrooms for the IARRP.