Chapter : 1 Introduction yoology is the term of Greek origin (Mykes = Mushroom + logos=discourse), which means the study of mushroom and indeed that is how mycology began to be known in the past. The mushrooms are among the largest fungi and attracted the attention of naturalists throughout the word ‘The world of mushroom has always been fascinating and mystic to man owing to their sudden appearance in numbers, groups, rings, bunches and also in isolation as a single atractve and fascinating structure. Their sudden appearance has often led to localized beliefs and notions such os their association with thunderstorm and lightening and their typical growth could not be described better by any other terminology than mushroom growth. Man has been fascinated with this biological entity since time immemorial and reference about the mushroom are available in most ancient literatures ke Vedas and Bible. Theopheratus (372-287 BC) the great Greek philosopher wrote about the food value of mushroom during Middle Ages ‘when mushroom comprised royal dishes for the Greek and Roman Empires. Mushrooms were gathered from the wid for consumption and for medicinal Use, China has been famous for early cultivation of many mushrooms e.g ‘Auriculara eurcute (600 AD), Flammulina velutipes (800 AD), Lentinus ‘ededes (1000 AD) and Tremelia fuciformis (1800). Agaricus bisporus wasfast cultivated in France in the year 1600 while Pleurotus osteatus was frst ‘grown in US in 1900. Ahough mushroom cultivation now spans Many ‘centuries, itis only over the last 23 decades that there have been major ‘expansions in basic research and practical knowledge leading 9 ‘he creation of a major worldwide Industies (Chang and Miles, 1969; Kaur and Lakhanpal, 2001). Mushroom belongs 0 @ separate group of organisms called fungi, They lack the usual green matter (Chlorophyll) present in plants and grow on dead and decaying organic materials. From these decaying substrates, they absorb their nutrion withthe help of very fine thread Ike ‘aructure (mycelium), which penetrate nto the substrate and are generally. rot visible on the surface. After the myeetium has grown profusely end “absorbed sufficient food materials, it forms the reproductive structure which generally come out ofthe substrate and fom the fiting bodes, which we commonly refer to as mushrooms, The mushroom fruling body may. be umbella tke or of various other shapes, sie and colours. Commonly, ‘consis ofa. cap, of, ples ord, o,atalk orate, but afers MADAME adational structures like a vil or annulus 2 cup oF volva, performing various funetions in the lie eyee ofthe fungus, The pleus of the fut body performs the most important funcions and produces milons of minuto "seeds" (epores) of mushroom, which under favourable conditons germinate on suitable substrate and give rise to a new mushroom mycelium, which afer rating vith another compatible mycelium or on self mating produces the fruiting bodies again to complete the life eycle. mushroom science is the discipline that Is concemed with the princinles and practices of mushroom cutiaton, Asi rus in any branch of ‘science, it fs essential to establish the facts upon which principles can Be derived for further developments of the discipline. Consistent production of ‘successful mushroom rops will be built upon scientific knowledge and practical experience (Chang and Wiles, 1989) import-tnete are attest 12,000 species of fung that can be considered 98 smustroom with at last 2,000 species showing various degree of eaPaly (Chang, 1999). Furthermore, over 200 species of mushroom Nave been catected trom the wid ad ullized fF various wradlional medical PUPOPS most in the Far East, To date, about 26 mushroom species Nave been cutvated commercially and ofthese, about 20 are cultivated on 97 Industrial scale The majoriy of these cutvated species are oh edible and possess medicinal properties. Pleurotus species is one of them. tre mushrooms have along history of medicinal usagos inthe overt in aiion to ther nutitonal value. Ano rena prover states Mesione® ‘and food have a common origin”. Mushroom are not only considered as great delicacies bu also enjoyed by modem healtrovented public as source se huctepaltiecopause food Wnhenrocatt yes Us leasraa psurge of inerest in research on medicinal value of mustvoo”) and vreehvoom product. A numberof pubtcaons have shown Mal TushrOOMy and mushroom products have significant medina} properie®, such as immunomodulation, anti-cancer, ver protective, malnuliton, hypertension, nisi, antiinflammatory, ant-abebe, anteval, acy specially against AIDS and chvonic hepatis in adton to general anti-microbial activities (Cot and Liv, 1998; Wasser and Weis, 1999 8B, Bo and Yun-Sun. “e20; Sharon, 1988; Yang and Jong, 1088; Mie, 1804; ODI 1988; Nonbe, 1994 2 ; Hobbs, 1905, Chang and But, 1986; HCl and Zhiyuan, 1982; Wasser, 2002; Suzuki etal, 1979 and Bresne, 1990). ‘The Plourotus mushroom, wich is generally refered to as ‘oysor has its origin from Greek mushroom’ world over and as "Dhingt! in Indi word “plewro™ wich means formed laterally or in a sk Wey position, refering tothe lateral position of the spe (ste) in elation 10 PICUS (cap). plourotusosreatus, fs beet own speces among oyster mushvoom an ine votaiosbooedpectic epthet “oyster obviously refers tos oyster shel the appearance of the fit bodies. utvation of Pleurotus was stated on tree stumps and fogs atthe ginning of thie, cntury (Falck, 1917), Twelve, year, later, Etter (1222) produced titi botles of P. osreatus in culture, Lese (1834) sated successful cutivalion of P. ostreatus on beech trunk, Kaufert (1935-1939) reported about production of sexual spores on saw dust Block eta (1959) fest achieved culivation of Plourolus osireatus on saw dust and on rmusivoom compost Since the past decade cultivation of oyster mushroom has developed into a commercial verre, being widely grown 1” aN, Hungary and West Germany besides Far Eas, Besides wo msin species via. P.ostratus and P. frida used for commercial cultivation, experimental cutvation has been achieved in olher species viz. P. etyngi, P. saps Kealehbr, P. Mabelatus, P. sajorcohy end P. fossulatus. In Inc, he cutvation of Plourotus mushroom was frst desciibed by Bano ond siivastava (1962) from Mysore. Jandaik (1974) and Jandalk and Kapoor (1874) reported successful ctvaton of Peurotus sajor-caly on banane preudostem and paddy staw, immediatoy ater tis, Ranoaswamy of 2 (1978) reported successful citvaion of P. sajrca in Coimbatore 0” diferent waste materials tke paddy straw, saw dust, wood shavings, plore stem and patophorum leaves and flowers. Purl of af (1861) reported utvation of P. fossulatus on paday straw but the yield was fow. Sich (1983) from Kanpur has alo perfected cutvation of oyster mushroom Diferent types of mushroom bed were used for culvation using aren pots, wooden Ways, bamboo basket and polythene, bag retnod Polythene bag (Bano, and_ Nagarajan, 1976) of compost bag method (Bhaskaran etal, 1978; Eswaramoorty ef a, 1989) was found tobe Desk Provision of perforations in the bag oF inserting a perforated tube in the mide of the bag helped in better growth. This attracted attention of den Inoutresearchers world over and presently P, sajorcaju is the most preferred species of oyster mushroom throughout the world because of ts ably to produce fruiting bodies comparatively at higher temperature with good biological efficiency. Agricutural wastes rich in cellule, hemicelulose and lignin wil continue to accumulate as. metheds of crop production become more cffciert, Proper disposal of diferent agro-wastes needs priority attention avoid pollution and bull up of pests and pathogens along wih saprophytic moulds, in the underdeveloped and developing countries, there is need to ‘convert the surplus agrcutualindustrial wastes in to food proteln. The culivation of Pleurotus species can be done by using several ignocellosic waste materials of agricultural and foresty orgin. These techniques inclide fa cheap way of reduction of waste materia; that also helps fo contribute tne ‘safe waste disposal and the preservation of our natural environment . sajorcaju and P, flabelatus were found to grow on various substrates ke rice straw, wheat straw, ragi straw, hulled maize-cob, waste cotton, banana paeudostem and waste paper (Jandaik, 1974; Bano ef al, 41978; Siaprakasam et a, 1979). The substrate is pasteurzed or immersed in hot water for few minutes. Among the diferent substrates highest vite was obtained in paddy straw only. Jandalk (1974) reported that ation of ‘oat meal or arhar powder resulted in better yield Bano of al. (1978) found that supplementation of mushroom beds with horsegram (75 akg of saw) ‘er cotton seed powder (66 ghkg of straw) after the spawn run increased the yield signifcanly. Easwaramoodthy etal. (1983) found that starch at 10 8K improved the biological efficiency from 28.2 to 40,0 percent. In places ke ‘Surat and Bangalore, rice bran at 4 percent is added to the paddy straw bed. “Spawning is done using grain spawn grown on baja or sorghum grains and the percent of spawn to the beds varies from 3 to 15 percent of the dry substrate, the optimum under Coimbatore condition being 10%. Iatrodution Pg‘Temperature and humidity are two cardinal factors, which influence growth and yield. A temperature of 20-26°C (241°C being optimum) and relative humidity of 70-90 percent are ideal for P. sajor-caju. A faity good crop can be obtained up to 30°C, Light is not necessary during spawn running but its necessary fo have cross ventilation and provide light for 15- 20 minutes during eropping period. Water is sprinkled on the beds twice or thrice daily during eropping and light watering is done during spawn running, Mycelial growth of Pleurotus is stimulated by high carbondioxide up to 2-28 percent volume and if the concentration exceeds by 37.5 percent growthis reduced (Kaul, 1989). Studies at Mysore indicated that maximum yield was ‘obtained during rainy seasons when the temperature was 20-26°C and relative humidity 70-90 percent (Bano and Rejarathnam, 1982). In Coimbatore also the maximum yield was obtained during September to December when the maximum temperature and minimum temperature were 28.3-30.7 and 17.2-22.6, respectively. Spreading of sand on the floor and hanging gunnies along sides of the mushroom shed and sprinkling water were found to reduce mushroom house temperature by 35°C. Mushroom culture is currently the only economic way of upgrading lignocetuisic wastes. These organisms can easly use these wastes for theie growth producing nutritious food. With a protein content of about ‘20-40% with high percentage of about all the nine essential amino acids, low in calories with traces of sugar and rich in water soluble vitamins, mushroom constitute a valuable source of nultiive and protective foods and there are ow therefore regarded as good nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals properties (Rai and Sofi, 1988; Choen ef al, 2002, Josh and Janardhanan, 2002 and Periasamy and Natarajan, 2002) ‘Mushroom production has shown rapid progress in India In the last decade but the tempo is slow as compared to other countries. However with satan ordineceasing interest many persons are oping no for large stale mustroom cultivation in urban and rural areas as well ‘The propagating material used by the mushroom growers fr Paring tds is called spawn. The spawn & equivalent o vegetative seed of Nahe plans iv mushroom growing technology, the Inoculum is Known && the rapa, Spawn ea meu tal impregnated wih yee mae fm 8 pure cure of te chosen rmushroom-siain, Spawn provaion be Fermentation process in which be mushroom mycatu wi be nerease9 OY cgoving through © sold organic matix under contoled ‘environmental condition. In almost ll cases the orgaric matix wil be sterlised arin 9 wheat, maize, sorghum etc 1x present, the pure cute span has been the basis of nose pawn prodeton units all ovr the word The manufac of 9 he PS ature spawn is done under sieificaly controled cortion which ‘demand ‘a tardard of hygiene an @ hospital operation theatre, The Puose ofthe grain spawn is to boost the mycelium toa stat of OM which wl rapidly alorge the selected substrate in bul, The grain s an important tient uppott as woll as 2 vehicle forthe eventual even dtfauien fino the roving medium of the mushroom inocuant. Each inca! grin becomes, ‘coated withthe meat ad infact Becomes a myesial apse Ceroning medium ofthe mushroom is generaly known as subsae she subetates used for elvan of oyster mushroom are normaly nfogen deter, An aceon of organi and inergarc supplements fo he SWesa\e from ouside to improve the yield of mushroom rave there Hoon recommended by many workers (Royse and Schise, 10672, 10670; Rovee vc Batier, 1966; Royse, 2002 ard wadhusushanan and Chandra Mohan 2002) “ta eubstités forthe cativaton of oyster mushroom ae treated wih chemicat substances which are uted Yo check the fungal weeds, capable 6 sentibaaelcausing invasion of substrates duing mushroom growth, Since chemical fungisdes are known to cause tovc off, therefore & umber of higher pants and ther constiuents have been used a= antifungal agents for checking te growth of fungal weeds. In recent past SAO) (1990) reported the titer scion of soma’ plont erect agent weed i conn uring citvation of oyster mushroom yanobacterta re the most dana, which may rec affect the ‘ther population in any water body (Sharma otal, 2009) Cyanobacteria are town for her toxn-producng properties (carmichal, 1994) ‘According to, andey and Pandey (002) eyanobacefa have anibacte! properties and may conrl lal spat disease of chi. Yad (2002) reported the effect of yanebactria on Pytophino porastics va. pening <*8P9 leat rot of pan. In an eater repr, i has been poe! out tat cyanobacterial rontaminated water shoud ot be used for the cuvaion of oyster ‘mushroom (Singh a a, 2002) ‘the make for msrooms corinuns 1 ow duo f teres, > thelr rutinal and heath beneis. Tei otra! serve in WaSI> management has yet to be uly exfred Many people are inerstod the muttional and medicinal aspecs of mushrooms, Moshrcoms consi m=nY essential amino ride and can boa valuable food source, Tha hice o SPS to cutvate depends on what cheap substates ore avaiatle and what 1s tke by Mareting is 2 sodely process by wich indvidual and TouPe ‘obtain ira hey need and want Hough eating, onetng endl 2 exchanging products and services of valve with otters -tmough oyster mushroom production is taming ine commercial dennra: Rec nromrece rota ie col cau The, eo production of verchoom in nd about 1000015000 tones, which nudes 20 percent vier agercus, 10 percent under Vowarioa and 8 percent under Plourotus (Garmgham, 1985), Though mushroomologsts ® e ‘counity mostly saniacancenrate on produaion techloges, lar se mushroom growing on 8 commarcia\ ecale 1 yet 10 tke fir rook THe A risks in mushroom catvation and successful production can Pe assured by proper resource Tranagement and timely lk management, Te ‘beak trough in oyster vrnvproom product Hes genetic exotaion oN by devetoping high viecing strains asin the case of areer revolution for cereals. ‘ince 2001, the demand of fesh oyster rushoo= has inereased interestingly, which appear 1 be ave tthe oH ‘awareness among the people. However, there ate no mshveon industies as well a5 "0 aarrched canpenies and muanroom nausee i S202 © meet the demand “ofthe people. As such the oyster mushroom raised by the individuals in their ‘oun small mushroom huts are S01 9 He market so as to earn some pont. However, ts wen, easy fr = Beans’ to generate and create vi troom market here n Sagar and caver neath IMTS In view of the above mentioned facts, Me present work entitled sstues on Mushroom Cutvaton wit SPeda, Reference to Plourotus Species and their Marketing Potential 9 S98! Region’ was under taken it vmrich attention has been focused manly on Heh aspects + Colecton of agouturat and ater pant waste substrates for the cultivation of Pleurous mushroom. ‘2. Spawn preparavon using erent oains 3, Impactof supplements on yield “4. Antfurgal activity of some selected Pais ‘extract contaminating ‘fungal weeds. 5. runga\ acy fanbase ng oe Gg. _ survey of vasious locales of Sagar for coterion of information about the use of mushroom. 7. Marketing potential stdies of elected oraiee of Sagar region.