A new tremella variety named “HT108” has recently passed the appraisal by experts from the Edible Fungi Professional Group organized by the Fujian Non-Major Crop Variety Approval Committee in Gutian County. It has become the first space-bred edible mushroom variety in Fujian.

“HT108” was developed from the “Gutian Tremella Tr21” strain through space mutagenesis breeding. On May 30, 2023, the Gutian tremella strain hitched a ride on the Shenzhou-16 manned spacecraft into space. Under the combined effects of special space environments such as space radiation mutagenesis cosmic rays, microgravity, and high vacuum, a new strain was born. Subsequently, after nearly two years of repeated cultivation tests, the new strain has demonstrated excellent characteristics.

The cultivation cycle of “HT108” is 42 to 46 days. The resulting tremella is yellow, with a round and compact shape, resembling a chrysanthemum. The ear slices are thick, with curled edges, firm and elastic. The content of total flavonoids, total polyphenols, and crude polysaccharides in its fresh products has increased by 60.0%, 55.6%, and 13.7% respectively compared to the control variety “Gutian Tremella Tr21”. Its dried products have excellent commercial properties, are not easily broken during transportation, and are convenient for transportation and storage.

According to the current yield measurement, the yield is expected to be about 10% higher than that of the control group. Eventually, the expert group unanimously gave the appraisal opinion: “HT108” is a new tremella variety with high yield, high content of total flavonoids, total polyphenols, and crude polysaccharides, and is suitable for industrial bag cultivation.

For years, Gutian County has relied on school-local cooperation and taken science and technology as the leading factor to continuously strengthen the development of new edible fungi varieties and the introduction of new technologies, and continuously promote the transformation and upgrading of characteristic agriculture. So far, the county has developed and produced 38 edible fungi varieties, becoming the county with the most complete variety development in the edible fungi industry in China. In 2024, the total output of edible fungi in the county reached 944,600 tons, and the output value of the whole industry chain reached 28 billion yuan. Among them, the output of tremella accounts for more than 85% of the global total. “Gutian Tremella” ranked second in the China Edible Fungi Regional Brand Value List for two consecutive years with a brand value of 14.732 billion yuan.

Professor Sun Shujing, the dean of the (Gutian) Institute of Mushroom Industry at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, is full of confidence in the prospects of “HT108”. Next, a “professional chain” will be established for the new variety, from the production authorization of the strain to the production authorization of farmers, and then to product processing. This will help classify the current tremella in Gutian County by grade and quality, form price differences, and bring different economic benefits to farmers.