Mushroom Cultivation

2. MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

3. Introduction
Mushrooms are the fruit bodies of edible
fungi, commonly belonging to Basidiomycotina
(Agaricus campestris, A. brunnescens, Pleurotus
sajor-caju, Volvariella volvacea etc.) and rarely to
Ascomycotina (Morchella conica, M. esculenta).
The mushrooms were used as food since long
back, probably from 3000 B.C. as per ancient Indian
literature. Since that time, the mushrooms are
being consumed in different countries like Greece,
Egypt, France etc.
The Greeks and Romans described
mushrooms as “food for the god”. During that
period, people consumed the mushrooms after
collecting them from their natural habitat.

4. Nutritional value of mushrooms has been
demonstrated that they complement and
supplement the human diet and these are
considered as “delight of the diabetic”.
Mushrooms have rightly been referred to
as the “ultimate health food”.

5.  Value of Mushrooms:
 1. Nutritive Value:
 Mushrooms became popular for their
food value. The food values of
mushrooms are as follows:

6. i. Mushrooms are the richest source of vegetable
protein.
ii. The protein content varies from 1.1-4.98% in
common cultivable mushroom (much higher than
pulses, vegetables and fruits).
iii. All the essential amino acids including lysine
(550 mg/gm) are present in much higher amount
than even egg.
iv. Mushrooms contain sufficient quantities of
mineral elements such as Na, K, Ca, P and Fe.
v. Mushrooms contain folic acid.
vi. Mushrooms contain vitamins like B, C, D and K.
vii. They contain little amount of fat (0.35- 0.65%
dry wt.) and starch (0.02% dry wt.).

7.  2. Medicinal Value:
 Most of the mushrooms have high
medicinal value to reduce blood pressure,
obesity (to be fatty), constipation,
atherosclerosis (fat deposition inside
blood vessel) etc.

8. Cultivation Procedure of
Mushrooms
It is the technique to develop the fruit bodies
of edible fungi. About a dozen fungi are culti-
vated in 100 countries with an annual
production of 2.2 million tonnes. The
common four genera are Agaricus, Lentinus,
Volvariella and Pleurotus.
 Together, they yield a major share of the
total production. Out of many, Agaricus
brunnescens (syn. A. bisporus), white button
yields 56%; Lentinus edodes, shiitake yields
14%; Volvariella volvacea, paddy straw yields
8% and Pleurotus spp., oyster 7.7%

9. Cultivation of Agaricus
Brunnescens (Syn. A. Bisporus)
The Agaricus brunnescens (syn. A. bisporus) is
commonly known as white button mushroom It
contributes a major share in the mushroom
production of the world. It is a temperate mushroom
and can grow well in temperate conditions. Optimum
temperature, optimum moisture, proper ventilation
and good quality of spawn are very essential
prerequisites for mushroom growth.

10. These are:
 a. The optimum temperature for the mycelial growth
is 24°C, while it is 14-18°C for the formation and
development of fruit body.
 b. Optimum moisture requires nearly at the
saturation point. However, direct application of excess
water in bed is harmful for the growing crop.
 c. Proper ventilation is essential to remove toxic
gases by the introduction of adequate fresh air.
 d. Good quality of spawn i.e., the spawn should be
prepared from the tissue of single fruit body and its
productive capacity should be good enough.

11.  The cultivation procedure is:
 1. Production of spawn,
 2. Preparation of compost,
 3. Filling of trays with compost,
 4. Spawning i.e., inoculation of compost,
 5. Watering of inoculated compost filled
trays,
 6. Casing,
 7. Harvesting of mushrooms (fruit bodies),
and
 8. Storage of mushrooms.

12.  1. Production of Spawn:
 The spawn (seed of mushroom) is a pure cul-
ture of the mycelia grown on a special
medium. The medium is prepared by the
grains of wheat, rye, sorghum or bajra along
with some ingredients.
 The preparation of spawn mainly
consists of three steps:
 a. Preparation of substrate,
 b. Inoculation of substrate, and
 c. Incubation of inoculated substrate for
spawn production.

13.  Preparation of Substrate:
 Take 900 gms of grains (wheat or sorghum) in 600-900 ml of
water in a container and boil for 15-20 minutes, After boiling,
decant the excess water and allow the grains to surface drying by
spreading on polythene sheet in shade for a few hours.
 The grains are then mixed with chemicals like 2% calcium
sulphate (gypsum) and 0.5% calcium carbonate (chalk) on dry
weight basis and adjust the pH of the grain at 7-7.8. About 300-
350 gms grains were then filled in milk bottles/ polypropylene
bags.
 Place a ring of tin (3.5 cm height and 3 cm diametre) towards the
inner side of the open-end of polypropylene bag, tighten it with
rubber band and then push the margin of the bag towards the
inner side and thus a mouth is prepared.


14.  Plug the mouth of the bottle and/or
polypropylene bag with non-absorbent
cotton. Then cover the mouth with brown
paper and tighten it with rubber band.
Sterilise the substrate by autoclave at
15lb pressure for 30 minutes for 2
consecutive days. Kept the sterilised
substrate in open air to cool down near to
room temperature, thus making the
substrate ready for inoculation.

15.  Inoculation of Substrate:
 The substrate is then inoculated with the mycelial culture
(developed earlier, either in Potato Dextrose Agar i.e., PDA or
Yeast Potato Dextrose Agar i.e., YPDA or Malt extract Agar and
Rice bran decoction medium).
 Incubation:
 Incubate the inoculated container at 20-25°C in dark for 3 weeks.
Shake the container after a few days, when the mycelial growth
becomes visible on the grain.
 Storage of Spawn:
 Store the spawn at 0-4°C in a refrigerator for a maximum period
of 6 months, if it is not needed immediately.
 The spawn can be purchased from any spawn-growing centre.
(The spawn is also available in “National Centre for Mushroom
Research and Training (NCMRT)”, Chambaghat, Solan 173 213,
Himachal Pradesh, India.

16.  2. Preparation of Compost:
 The compost used in the cultivation are of two types:
 Natural and Synthetic:
 i. Natural Compost:
 The natural compost is prepared by mixing barley or wheat straw with fresh and pure
horse dung (not with the dung of other animal). Mixed, rain wet or old dung is not suitable
for the preparation of compost. Commonly 100 kg of dung is mixed with 33 kg of straw.
The mixture is then stacked a metre high heap.
 The heap of mixture should be kept under shade in open air. After 3-4 days, the heap was
turned (to release ammonia) and stacked again. The turning process is repeated 4-5 times
at an interval of 5-6 days. During this process, gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) is added @ 25
kg/tonne (1,000 kg) dung. Finally, 40 ml nemagon is sprayed and added to the mixture.
The compost was then filled in the tray of 100 x 50 x 15 cm size.
 ii. Synthetic Compost:
 The ingredients required for the synthetic compost are:
 (a) Chopped wheat straw (3-6 cm size) 300 kg
 (b) Wheat bran 30 kg
 (c) Calcium ammonium nitrate or Ammonium sulphate 6 kg
 (d) Urea 4 kg
 (e) Potash 1.5 kg
 (f) Calcium sulphate (gypsum) 30 kg
 (g) Sawdust 10 kg

17.  Wet the sawdust with water by spraying and mix half of the ingredient, except
wheat straw and gypsum. Next day, spread the wheat straw on the cement
floor and wet it thoroughly by spraying with water. The sawdust-chemical mix-
ture is then mixed thoroughly with wetted wheat straw. This mixture is then
stacked under shade into a metre high heap and covered with polythene sheet.
 After 5 days, the stack is scraped and rest half ingredient is thoroughly mixed
with it and the entire mixture is then stacked again. This process is repeated
six times. Calcium sulphate is added in the 3rd and 4th turning.
 Normally the compost becomes ready to cultivate after 6th turning, but 2 or
more turning may be given if the smell of ammonia is yet there in the compost.
During last turning, insecticide like malathion (10 ml dissolve in 5 I water) is
added to the prepared compost. The prepared compost will be brown or dark
brown in colour and is sufficient enough to fill 25 trays of 100 x 50 x 15 cm
size.
 3. Filling of Trays with Compost:
 Mix 3 kg of calcium carbonate with the compost prepared earlier. Fill the
wooden trays with compost and compress fairly by using a wooden board (1 2
cm x 25 cm), so that a space of about 3 cm deep is left on the top of the tray.
 4. Spawning i.e., Inoculation of Compost:
 Spread the spawn on the surface of compost and then cover by a thin layer of
compost. Little pressure with the fingers is given to make good contact of
spawn with compost. Finally the trays are covered with old newspaper. The
trays are arranged one after the other in vertical stacks in such a way that
sufficient aeration between the trays is maintained.

18.  . Watering of Inoculated Compost Filled Trays:
 Sprinkled water to be given on newspaper to maintain humidity. Water should be applied
twice a day or less depending on the availability of moisture. The room temperature should
be maintained between 24°C and 25°C for 12-15 days for the good growth of mycelium on
the compost. The mycelium appears in the form of white cottony growth on the surface of
bed.
 6. Casing:
 The process of covering the mycelial mat on compost, surface is made with a thin layer of
soil mixed with different substances.
 The casing can be done with different types of mixture like:
 i. Soil : Sand : : 1 : 1;
 ii. Well-rotten cow dung: light soil: : 3 : 1 ;
 iii. Spent compost: Sand: Slaked lime : : 4:1:1 etc.
 Casing soil should be sterilised either by chemicals like methyl bromide, formalin etc. or by
heating at 70-75°C temperature for 6 hours to kill the inhabiting fungi, nematodes, insects
etc.
 The fruit bodies of mushroom are expected to appear after 5-20 days of casing. After
casing, the room temperature should be maintained between 14-18°C for the good growth
of the fruit body. The fruit bodies attain the size of button stage from pinhead within 7-8
days. Next crop appears at an interval of 8-10 days.

19. 7. Harvesting of Mushrooms i.e., Fruit Bodies:
When the cap of the fruit body is tight with its
stalk, the fruit bodies are harvested. The fruit
bodies are harvested by twisting and uprooting,
after holding the basal region of stalk with fin-
gers. The lower part of the stalk is cut out where
the compost remains attached.
8. Storage of Mushrooms:
The fruit bodies may be stored at 4°C for a few
days, if it is not consumed or marketed
immediately.

20. THANK YOU