ABSTRACT
Fungi are an important component of the food supply to many grazing animals. How many of us have picked a mushroom in the woods, only to find it riddled with holes and full of fly larvae and other invertebrates? In many European countries, wild mushrooms are an important component of people’s diet. In recent times, however, the cultivation of mushrooms by commercial growers has become more important than personal fungal forays, especially as the commercial production of mushrooms is independent of season. Indeed, the value of mushrooms as a food source for humans has driven mushroom sales to reach about $1.2 billion (USDA, 2015) in the United States in 2013–2014.
