Identification and Categorization of Ganoderma Varieties Cultivated in Southern China

The Ganoderma varieties cultivated in the producing regions in southern China were collected, identified and organized for information on the resources and future breeding needs. Initially, 17 Ganoderma varieties were screened by the mycelial antagonistic reaction among them. Subsequently, they were identified and classified through the uses of ITS -RFLP and ITS sequence clustering analysis. Finally, the verification by a compatibility test was conducted on the strains. The results indicated that they belonged to 3 categories with 11 of them being G. lucidum, one of them G. sinense, and 5 of them G. resinaceum. The strains selected for cultivation varied from region to region. For instance, the Lujiao Lingzhi and Xuezhi were G. lucidum, whereas, Kaiping and "0057" were G. resinaceum.