DOI: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodp.2026.05.13
LI Yu, Academician of
the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Professor at Jilin Agricultural University,
Director of the International Joint Research Center for the Creation of New
Germplasm Resources of Edible Fungi, President of the International Society for
Medicinal Mushrooms, Honorary President of the Mycological Society of China,
Honorary President of the China Edible Fungi Association, Lifetime Honorary
Member of the International Society for Mushroom Science, Chief Scientist of
the National Edible Fungi Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance,
Chief Scientist of the China-Aided Zambia Agricultural Technology Demonstration
Center, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Fungal Research, National Advanced
Individual in Agricultural Plant Protection, UN Food Hero, etc.
As a leading
scientist in China’s mycology and edible fungus engineering, he has long been
engaged in fungal taxonomy and systematics, germplasm innovation of edible and
medicinal fungi, and key technologies across the whole industry chain.
He pioneered
systematic taxonomy of myxomycetes, achieving the first naming of a new
myxomycete species by a Chinese scholar, and compiled Flora Fungorum
Sinicorum: Myxomycetes and other volumes. He
established the special fungal conservation system, bred 45 new varieties, and
created over 11,000 superior germplasm lines. He integrated key technologies
such as full-sunlight intermittent mist cultivation and small-hole fruiting for
black wood ear, which won the First Prize of the 2023 National Science and Technology
Progress Award, supporting a 2.38-fold increase in edible fungus output. He
established the secondary disciplines of Mycology and Mushroom Crops, promoted
an undergraduate major in Applied Biological Sciences (Mycology), and helped
include Mycology Science and Engineering in the national undergraduate major
catalogue, forming a complete undergraduate-master’s-doctoral-postdoctoral
training system. Through systematic research and industrial practice, he has
advanced China’s mycology and edible fungus industry.