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In this article we will discuss about the cultivation of mushrooms:- 1. Cultivation of Agaricus Bisporus 2. Cultivation of Pleurotus (Dhingri Mushroom) 3. Cultivation of Volvariella Volvacea 4. Cultivation of Lentinus Edodes (Shitakke).
Cultivation of Agaricus Bisporus:
Principle:
Using natural resources or agricultural wastes these valuable protein sources can be cultivated on a large scale, by supplementing with inorganic sources of nutrients.
Requirements:
1. Starter culture.
2. Spawn on Jowar/wheat seeds.
3. Compost which constitute—wheat straw, Ammonium sulphate, superphosphate, urea, gypsum, wheat bran, saw dust.
4. Wooden trays 3 X 2 X ½ ft
5. BHC powder, alcohol.
6. Newspaper.
7. Water spray.
8. Humidifier.
9. Air conditioner.
10. Levelling planks.
11. Casing soil.
Procedure:
There are various steps involved in the cultivation of Agaricus bisporus:
i. Starter culture.
ii. Spawn production.
iii. Preparation of compost.
iv. Filling of trays.
v. Spawning.
vi. Casing.
vii. Watering,
viii. Harvesting.
ix. Storage.
Starter Culture:
Surface sterilise fruit bodies and inoculate pieces selected from the stipe or pileus on malt extract agar.
Malt extract agar (pH 6.5)
Malt extract – 50.0 g
Agar – 20.0 g
Distilled water – 1000.0 ml
Aseptically collected spores also can be used as inoculum. It takes about 4-5 days for the mycelium to grow and cover the agar slants. Incubation is done at room temperature (28°-30°C).
Spawn Production:
1. Boil cleaned wheat or sorghum seeds till half cooked, cool and drain off water and add 3% CaCO3 and 2% gypsum (hydrated CaSO4).
2. Mix thoroughly, fill ¾ th of 500 ml corning flasks/milk bottles/autoclavable plastic bags, plug with cotton and autoclave at 20 lb pressure (135°C) for 2-3 hours.
3. Cool and inoculate the grains with starter culture.
4. Incubate at room temperature (28°- 30°C). It takes about 15 days for the mycelium (spawn) to grow and cover the grains in the flask/bags/bottle.
Preparation of Compost:
1. There are long and short methods.
Long method:
Wheat straw (6 pieces) – 300.0 kg
Ammonium sulphate – 9.0 kg
Super phosphate – 9.0 kg
Urea – 4.0 kg
Gypsum (hydrated CaSO4) – 30.0 kg
Wheat bran – 15.0 kg
Saw dust – one gunny bag
2. Cut wheat straw into 6 inch pieces (9 cm) and wet it by spraying water or leave it wet on cemented platform for 48 hours.
3. Weigh ammonium sulphate, super phosphate and urea and mix them in the gunny bag of saw dust and wheat bran.
4. Mix this with moist wheat straw and pile upto a heap 6′ long 4—5′ ft broad and 4-6′ high.
5. Spray water; Seeping of water from below should be less.
6. Turning is the most important part of compost preparation.
Schedule for turning:
1st turning 6th day
2nd turning 10th day
3rd turning 13th day (add 30 kg of Gypsum)
4th turning 16th day
5th turning 19th day
6th turning 22nd day
7th turning 23rd day
8th turning 28th day
(Fill in trays)
Filling of trays:
1. Mix the compost well with 5% BHC dust and fill them in wooden trays (3 X 2 X ½ ft) which are previously disinfected with formaldehyde or alcohol and rid of their smell.
2. Level the compost by a wooden plank. The edges and corners of the trays also should be compactly filled leaving 3-4 cm on top.
3. Stack the trays one above the other in a room leaving 8″—9″ in between each tray and raise the temperature of the room to 48°-54°C (not above 60°C) for pasteurisation (takes about 3-4 days).
4- Trays with compost are held at this temperature for 12 hours and then cool (takes about 3-4 days).
5. When temperature comes to 27°C it is held for a day and then spawning is done.
Spawning (planting mushroom mycelium):
1. Remove l”-2″ (5-6 cm) depth of compost evenly from the tray and keep it aside.
2. Broadcast grain spawn uniformly and ruffle the grains with fingers into compost. Place the compost that was removed from top, spread it evenly and press with hand gently.
3. Cover with previously sterilised newspaper with 2% formalin and dried until it is free of the smell.
4. Spray water lightly, just to wet the newspaper, twice a day. Water should not accumulate on the paper. A temperature of 24 ± 2°C and 90% humidity is required for spawn running.
Casing:
1. Mix sieved garden soil and sand in equal parts (1:1) or well-decomposed cow dung and light soil.
2. Autoclave this mixture at 15 lbs pressure for one to 1 y hour. It can also be pasteurised or steamed or treated with formaldehyde and used after it is free of the smell of formaldehyde.
3. After 15 days, after spawning, remove the moist newspaper. The mycelium forms a dazzling white mat on the compost.
4. Spread a 2.5 cm-thick sterile casing material on top of this mat of mycelium and spread evenly.
5. Keep the casing material just moist by spraying water once or twice a day.
6. Maintain 23°-24°C for 3-4 days with 85-90% relative humidity for quick growth of spawn.
7. Now lower the temperature to 16 ± 2°C.
8. Introduce fresh air into the room.
Harvesting:
1. After 12-15 days, after casing, pin heads appear that develop into buttons and cropping should be done at this stage.
2. Twist fruit bodies, remove them. Fill in the holes with casing material around the hole.
3. Cut off the lower portion of stipe having sand.
Storage:
1. Store cleaned fruit bodies at 4°C.
2. Pack in polythene bags and market them.
Cultivation of Pleurotus (Dhingri Mushroom):
Principle:
This mushroom grows well on agricultural wastes without the supplement of nutrients and is a tropical one, unlike Agaricus bisporus.
Requirements:
1. Starter culture.
2. Spawn on Jowar/wheat.
3. Paddy straw/wheat straw.
4. Autoclaved plastic bags with holes punched.
Procedure:
1. Chop paddy straw/wheat straw into 2″—3″ (5-7 cm) pieces and soak in water for 10-12 hours.
2. Drain excess water, fill in gunny bags and dip them in boiling water for 20-30 minutes.
3. Cool, drain off excess water and pack it compactly in 35 X 55 cm disinfected/ sterilised punched polythene bags.
4. Add through sides and on to p200 g of spawn (one 500 ml bottle). In plastic bag pack straw, evenly and make a cylindrical shape of the straw.
5. Tie the mouth of the bag and keep in moist room.
6. After 10-15 days white mycelium covers the bundle and at this time tear off the plastic bag and lightly water it. With 80- 85% humidity and 28°-30°C temperature fruit bodies appear.
7. Cut fruit bodies with a sharp knife, pack in polythene bags, keep at 4°C and market.
Cultivation of Volvariella Volvacea:
(Paddy Straw Mushroom)
Principle:
This mushroom also is a tropical one and does not require a compost or added nutrients:
Requirements:
1. Starter culture.
2. Spawn on Jowar /wheat grains.
3. Paddy straw.
4. Autoclaved plastic bags with holes punched.
Procedure:
1. Soak, paddy straw bundles 20-25 cm in diameter and 2 ft long, in water for 12 hours.
2. Drain off water, immerse in boiling water for 20-30 minutes and remove excess water. Allow it to cool after placing them on a 70-80 cm, (2×2 ½ ) wide platform lengthwise with butts on one side.
3. Raise another layer on top of this with another set of bundles with butts on the opposite side of the first set.
4. Repeat with two or more layers so as to have a bed size of (75 x 75 x 120) cm3 (2 ½ x 2½ x 4)ft3.
5. Place the grain spawn in between the four layers 10-15 cm apart and 10-15 cm inside the bundles from periphery.
6. Spawn the top region all over (2 spawn bottles are required).
7. Cover with a thin layer of polythene sheet to maintain 80-90% humidity and 30°-35°C temp.
8. On 10th day, remove the polythene sheet.
9. After 12—14 days pin heads appear (after spawning).
10. Harvest egg stage (before opening).
11. Clean and pack in perforated polythene bags for marketing.
Cultivation of Lentinus Edodes (Shitakke):
Principle:
Cultivation of shitake requires specific wood or saw dust of temperate species of trees like Quercus, chestnut, etc. cut at a particular season since sugar content of wood increases in autumn and favours growth of the fungus.
Requirements:
1. Spawn on sawdust/wood plug.
2. Branches of Quercus, Pasania or chestnut (10-20 yrs old) 10 cm in diameter (cut before leaf fall) and 10-15 cm in diameter.
3. Drilling machine.
4. Hammer.
5. Stands for sacking in forest.
6. Bunsen flame.
7. Inoculating needles.
8. Conical flasks.
9. Plastic bags.
Procedure:
i. Spawn Preparation:
i. Saw dust spawn
Saw dust – 800 g
Rice bran – 200 g
Sucrose – 30 g
KN03 – 4 g
CaC03 – 6 g
Water – 200 ml
1. Sieve saw dust and mix ingredients. Sucrose should be dissolved in water and sprinkled.
2. Water should drip down slightly when squeezed.
3. Fill this in bottles or polypropylene bags.
4. Flatten the surface, introduce a rod and make a 1.5—2.0 cm hole in the centre, plug bottles with cotton, cover with aluminium foil and autoclave.
5. After cooling, inoculate mycelium from agar media in the centre of the hole.
ii. Wood Plug Spawn:
Wedged-shaped pieces or cylindrical pieces of wood are inoculated and incubated.
Long Method of Cultivation:
Substrate:
1. Branches of Quercus sp., Pasania cuspidata or chestnuts, (15-20 years old) which are 10 cm in diameter, are cut in autumn before leaf fall. (Sugar content of wood at this time increases and favours mycelial growth).
2. Logs one meter long and 10-15 cm diameter are cut.
3. Holes of the size 1.0 cm to 1.5 cm in diameter and 1.5-2.0 cm in depth are drilled, 20-30 cm apart with 10-12 holes in each row. Holes are drilled in an alternating pattern and a log of 1.2 meter long and 9 cm diameter will have 18 holes.
Spawning
4. Add approximately 1 g of spawn to each hole gently without much pressing.
5. Seal the holes with correct size plugs made of the bark with little wood.
6. Size of plug should be slightly larger than the diameter of the hole and 3—4 mm thick, so that it may not fall off while drying.
7. Hammer plugs into holes gently and seal with paraffin to prevent contamination and to maintain moisture.
8. Stack them in forests with proper sunshine and moisture.
9. To stack, two sticks of 50—60 cm length are fixed at a distance of 1.0 —1.5 meter with a cross wood bound in between the sticks.
10. Lay the inoculated wood along the cross wood.
11. Water the logs with sprinklers.
12. Temperature of 10°-15°C and 80-90% relative humidity are required.
13. Fruit bodies come up in 10-15 days after spawning.
Harvesting:
1. When caps are 70-80% open, pick the fruit body by pressing slightly and twisting.
2. Pack them and market.