MUSHROOM AND ITS

CULTIVATION
!! ! !

___ 2015___

Ram Kumar Shrestha

 1
Introduction
Mushroom= Khumbi (Hindi)
$ Sunpa (Shanskrit)
$ $ Chyau (Nepali)
Up o n g e t t i n g o p t i m u m g r o w i n g
conditions on natural habitats, often
growth of mushroom follows more or
less circular pattern which is known as
fairy rings (fig 1.1). This fairy rings
appears because of the growth habit of
mycelium on its substrates
Fig 1.1 Fairy ring of mushroom
1
Definition
The word mushroom denotes the fruiting body of higher
fungi. Biologically these fruiting bodies are sporophores pro-
ducing sexual spores of the fungus. In other sense, mush-
room signifies a group of fleshy macroscopic fungi, which
are able to produce those conspicuous sporophores. “Mush-
room is a macrofungus with a distinctive fruiting body,
which can be either epigeous or hypogeous and large
enough to be seen with naked eye and to be picked by
hand” (Chang and Miles, 1992). Man’s interest in fungi
started with the observation of the beautiful, umbrella-
shaped mushrooms and toadstools growing on soil forming
“fairy rings”. Since these grew attached to the soil like
plants, they were first regarded as plants. Etymologically,
mycology means the study of mushrooms (Gr. mykes= mush-
room, logos= discourse). Man, “the hungry creature in
search of food”, soon discovered that these mushrooms
were edible. The mycopnagists started collecting and eating
them.
 Since human started the consumption of
mushroom, it is highly valued for its taste
and utility. Roman thought the mush-
rooms as “food of god”. About 4600 years
ago Egyptians believed mushrooms to be
the plant of immortality. Chinese has been
using various mushrooms for medicinal
purpose. Currently, among 1.5 million spe-
cies of known fungi about 2,327 species
are identified as edible or medicinal mush-
rooms. Among them around 20 species are
cultivated and five of them are cultivated
in industrial scale.
Mushroom survey and research was begun
in Nepal in 1854. Hooker (1854) recorded
36 species of macro fungi collected from
western Nepal. Later on in 1966 a Japanese
team collected 160 species of macro fungi
from central and eastern Nepal. Till now
720 species of wild mushrooms have been
identified In the country. Among them 110
are useable as human food. 75 species con-
sisting medicinal value and 65 species are
poisonou. Cordiceps are mushroom belong-
ing to phylum Ascomycota and are the
only known mushroom found on highest
altitude. The northern temperate region of
Nepal is rich in diversity of Cordiceps. An-
other mushroom possessing medicinal
value is also found in temperate region of
Nepal. These mushroom is called Mor-
chella (Locally called Guchhi) also belongs
to phylum Ascomycota (See chapter 2)
2
History of mushroom cultivation in Nepal
is quite short. It started in 1973 with the re-
search of Mr. Shaileshchandra Sing. He
started a research on straw mushroom cul-
tivation. At that time, the plant pathology
division of Nepal Agriculture Research
Council, Khumaltar started the cultivation
of button mushroom. Initially, cultivation
was done on compost made from horse
dung. Later, with the success of cultivation
on compost made up of rice straw, technol-
ogy was transferred to the farmer. Study
of oyster mushroom begun only on 1983.
The plant pathology division of NARC
was involved in research work. The ease in
production of oyster mushroom made it
popular among farmers of Balambu, Lalit-
pur, Dadhikot with in short duration.
Based on climatic and cultural require-
ment, three types of mushrooms are rec-
ommended for cultivation in Nepal. They
are button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus),
which was introduced in the year 1979-80,
oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sajor-caju),
which was introduced in 1983-84 and
paddy straw mushroom (Volvariella volva-
cea), which was introduced in 1982. A. bispo-
rus is confined to certain locality because
of its complexity of cultivation and be-
cause of relatively cool loving nature. V. vol-
vacea is recommended to cultivated in
terai where temperature is around 35°C.
But oyster mushroom is has become popu-
lar in various places of tropical and sub “mushrooms”, while the poisonous varie-
tropical zones of the country. Lately the ties were termed as “toadstools”. The word
log based cultivation of Shiitake (Lentinula toadstools is a distortion of the german
edodes) is becoming viable business and name Todestuhl which literally means
some of farmers are attracted to it because ‘death chair’. The roman emperor Cladius
of its premium price which reach about Caesar (A.D. 54) was murdered by his wife
2300 NRS per kilo. who mixed his food with Amanita phalloi-
des.
According to FAOSTAT data, the total
world production of mushrooms including
truffles has sharply increased from 2.0 mil-
lion metric tons in 1990 to nearly 7.4 mil-
lion metric tons in 2010 and the market of B
mushroom- derived dietary supplements is
also quickly growing and is valued at more
than US $15 billion today. This tendency
may reflect an increase in the recognition
of the value of mushrooms as a healthy
food and an important source of medicinal
compounds.

Poisonous mushrooms

Various fungus are able to produces differ-

ent secondary metabolites which are found
to be poisonous for animals. These metabo-
lites are called as “mycotoxins”. Due to the Fig. 1.2. Poisonous mushrooms A) Inky
presence of such mycotoxins, some mush- cap-Coprinuous sps,, B) False morel- Gyromi-
rooms are unfit for consumption, and can tra , C)Death cap- Amanita phalloides, D)
cause serious poisoning. Case of accidental Fly agric- Amanita muscarina.
mushroom poisoning were also known to
ancient Greek and Romans as early as
500B.C. The name ‘evil ferments of the
earth’ was given to some of the mush-
rooms. The edible members were called

3
Table.1.1: Major toxins of some mushrooms As like the diversity of mushroom found in
Mushroom Toxin Effect Nepal, it is equally diversified for poison-
Neurotransmittor ous mushroom too. Till recent days 56 spe-
Clitocybe sps. Muscarin
inhibitor cies found in country are toxic.The level of
Block the synthesis
Gyromitra Gyromitrin
of GABA
toxicity may be different as some of them
Inhibit alcohol creates mild effects while some are deadly
Coprinus coprine
metabolism and may leads to the death of person.
mimics serotonin
Psilocybe psilocybin thus cause mind
altering function
How to differentiate between poisonous
and edible mushrooms

A Mushroom poisoning refers to harmful ef-

B
Fig. 1.3. Mycotoxin and its poisoning A)
Barley affected with Claviceps sps (this fun-
gus produces mycotoxin which is named as
ergoline), B) Ergtotism caused by ingestion
of food containing ergoline.
fects from ingestion of toxic substances
present in a mushroom. These symptoms
can vary from slight gastrointestinal dis-
comfort to death. The toxins present are
secondary metabolites produced in spe-
cific biochemical pathways in the fungal
cells. Mushroom poisoning is usually the
result of ingestion of wild mushrooms af-
ter misidentification of a toxic mushroom
as an edible species. The most common
reason for this misidentification is close re-
semblance in terms of colour and general
morphology of the toxic mushrooms spe-
cies with edible species.. The problem is
often associated with harvested mushroom
from the wild habitat where the poisonous
mushrooms mimics edible one. Thus a well
known person may confused.$ $
There are various erroneous folklore
"rules" which may lead to misidentifica-

4
tion of edible mushroom and possibly
leads to mushroom poisoning are:
1) Poisonous mushrooms are brighter in
color
2) The mushroom eaten by other animal is
safe for human too.
3) Poisonous mushroom changes color
when scratched
4)Mushrooms producing latex are poison-
ous.
5) Poisonous mushrooms don’t contain veil
6) While cooking poisonous mushroom
with silver spoon, it changes color
7) Most of poisonous mushrooms have
swollen base.
Table 1.2. Edible Vs. Poisonous: True or False
General Belief Status
Bright colored Mushroom
FALSE
are Poisonous
Mushrooms bearing
FALSE
annulus are edible
Mushroom producing
FALSE
latex are poisonous
Changes color when
FALSE
scratched
Poisonous Mushrooms
tarnish a silver spoon, FALSE
onion and garlic pieces
5
The above mentioned points may not be
always true. Considering the above men-
tioned points do not confirms the mush-
room you are going to eat are safe. For ex-
ample fungi that are harmless to inverte-
brates can still be toxic to humans; the
death cap, for instance, is often infested by
insect larvae but is a poisonous one for
mammals. Thus these myths may act as
misleading information for mushroom col-
lectors who collects from forest. Better
way to avoid the chances of mushroom poi-
soning is to avoiding the collection from
forest. If you need to harvest from forest,
help of experts or field book may be help-
ful. In some circumstances consumption
of alcohol with mushroom or excess mush-
room at once may results poisoning other
wise they found safe.
Edible Species Poisonous Species
Laccaria amethystine, Mycena pura,
Rodopaxillus nudus
Cortinarius violaceus.
Agaricus bisporus, Amanita caesarea, Amanita citrine, Amanita
Armillariella mellea muscaria
Lactarius torminosus
Lactarius deliciosus, Lactirus corrugis
Lactarius sariflus
Lactirus volemu
Lactarius rufus
Boletus cyanescens Boletus luridus
Incase of deadly Amanita species like A. phalloides, A. verna and A.
muscaria the colour of spoon, onion and garlic doesn’t change in color
while cooking
 Because of the nature of mushroom, it ac- In most of case mushroom poisoning oc-
cumulates heavy metals of surrounding curs from ingestion of poisonous mush-
thus surrounding should be examined be- room. Then the intestinal tract absorbs
fore harvesting wild mushrooms. the toxins and deliver to the circulatory sys-
tem of human body. Thus in any mush-
In many places wild species of mushroom,
room poisoning event, that occurred
which are edible are collected by local peo-
through ingestion of poisonous mush-
ple. But the miss identification events are
room, immediate evacuation of gastrointes-
common and people suffer from acquit
tinal tract is the primary step for physi-
mushroom poisoning. The condition is
cians. Slurry of activated charcoal may acts
also serious in our country too.
as absorbent for toxins in digestive tract.
Symptoms and treatment of mush- In advance stage hemodialysis might help
room poisoning to reduce blood toxin concentration to to
safe level. Beside those, the specific anti-
Mushroom poisoning symptoms varies ac-
dotes may be administered to the patient.
cording to the type of toxin produced in
the selection of antidotes depends on the
mushroom. Majority of symptoms includes
type of mushroom ingested. Some of dead-
gastric upset, emesis, nausea, diarrhea.
liest mushroom don't contains specific anti-
Some fungal toxin including muscarin
dotes and thus treatment is done with
stimulates the exocrine gland thus in-
other supportive measures.
creased salivation, lacrimation and sweat-
ing can be seen. At later stage dizziness
and sleepy feeling is common and patient
may suffer from unconsciousness.
Table 1.3. Mushroom poisoning and its treatment
Mushroom species Toxin Poisoning symptom Antidote/ treatment
Antidote not identified/
Liver damage 1-3 days after Vitamin C, Nifuroxazixe and
Amanita sps. Alpha amanitin
ingestion Dihydrostreptomycin are
administered
Ergotin and Affects the vascular system and IV seratonin sodium
Claviceps
Ergolin leads to loss of extremities Nitroprusside or Captopri
Causes illness when consumed Most of case supportive
Coprinus sps. Coprine
with alcohol measure is sufficient
Salivation, bloody stool and Atropin and other supportive
Amanita muscarina Muscarin
heart may stop measures

6
 Importance of Mushrooms
1.Nutritional Importance
Mushroom are considered as wholesome
food. It contains as twice as the protein of
most of f resh vegetable. On the dr y
weight basis mushrooms are made up of
about 30% highly digestible protein.These
protein contains all essential amino acid.
Being lower calorie food (36 cal/100g),
with no cholesterol, high mineral content,
rich source of vitamin and nugator y
amount of fat, mushroom are perfect food
for heart and sugar patients. Having highly
digestible of protein in comparison to pro-
tein from any other source, mushroom is
ideal food for children and old age person.
It is best protein alternative for vegetarian
people. The nutritive value of common edi-
ble mushrooms are given on table 1.4:
Agaricus bisporus contains 0.95% of manni-
tol, 0.28% of glucose, 0.04% of pentoses
0.95% of glycogen and 0.91% of crude cel-
lulose.
Table 1.4. Approximate analysis of edible mushrooms fresh weight basis percent
Mushroom species Protein % Fat %
Agaricus bisporus 3.94 0.19
Pleurotus sp. 2.78 0.65
Pleurotus ostreatus 2.15 - -
Volvariella volvacea 4.98 0.74
7
Most of mushrooms are very rich in ribo-
flavin and nicotinic acid, particularly thia-
mine, biotin and pentothenic acid.Folic
acid, a B-vitamin known as a boody build-
ing vitamin is also available in mushroom.
thus mushroom can go a long way to ward-
off malnutrition.
2. Economic Importance
Mushrooms are high value agriculture
product and have wide market. According
to FAO the current transection of 7.4 mil-
lion metric ton of mushroom is able to
create a business of 15 billion USD in
2010. Thus mushroom industry is a giant
industry making good economic outcome.
The trend shows the increasing value of
this industry. A few species of wild edible
fungi dominate the world market with an
estimated value of more than two billion
US$ (Wang and Hall, 2004). Mushroom
production is a viable business. The busi-
ness of mushroom can be initiated with
very little investment and has short pay
back period.
Crude fiber % Moisture %
1.09 89.5
1.08 90.0
92.5
1.38 88.4
 Small scale mushroom farm don't demand ral, and antiprotozoan, isolates from mush-
large area for its establishment thus may rooms.
be a good choice for resource poor farmer
4. Ecological importance
and can make handful money for living.
Fungi including wild mushrooms play a
3. Medicinal Importance
critical role in nearly every ecosystem.
$ Mushroom are vast yet untapped source They function as decomposers as well as
of numerous pharmaceutical. It has long part of food chain to maintain a healthy
history of being used in Tibetian and ecosystem.They are key in recycling dead
Unani medicinal system, because of its abil- vegetation and making the nutrients avail-
ity of curing various physical complains able for the next generation of plant life.
and immunostimulating function. The They form symbioses with the vast major-
modern analytical techniques can be used ity of herbaceous and woody plants, allow-
to establish a scientific basis for the em- ing them to colonize poor soils and pull
perical observation that have been made otherwise unavailable nutrients from the
centuries before. Great variety of polysac- soil. Fungi serves as food and habitat for
charide present in besidiomycetes fungus many insects, animals and reptiles.
has been identified for their anti-cancer
5.Food production
and anti-tumor properties. Researchers
have isolated a number of antifungal, antivi- Mushroom are best agents to convert wast-
age materials and plant byproducts di-
rectly in to highly valued human food. It
Table 1.5. Medicinal mushroom
Active
don’t demand large area for its production.
Mushroom Property
compounnd A K.g of wet straw can be converted to
Cordymin, 400 gm of fresh highly digestible mush-
Cordycepsidone
Immunomodulat room. Otherwise we dont have any other
Cordyceps and
ory, aphrodisiac
Cordyheptapetid means to convert these things to food in
e
such efficient way.
Cinamic acid, Antioxidant,
Ganoderma
Ganoderic acid Anti-obesity
6.Other importance
Lentinan,
Lentinula AHCC and Anticancer
Mushroom has educational value. Its lifecy-
Eritadnine
Anticancer cle is taught on school. Different dyes are
Auricularia ---
Anticogulant manufactured from mushroom such as:
Pleurotous --- Antioxidant
Volvariella --- Anticancer
8
A variety of mushroom has very attractive
in appearance. These are part of biological
richness and may have value for tourism.

Table 1.6. Dye from mushroom

Mushroom Color created
King bolete Reddish yellow
Lobster
Cinnamon pink to red
mushroom
Oyster
Grayish green
mushroom

Being labour intensive nature, the mush-

room cultivation has potential to create
great employment opportunity.

9
2
Biology and Classi-
fication of Mush-
room
Morphology of mushroom
Since the mushrooms are subset of fungi
thus it follows same systematics as other
fungus do. But it includes only the higher
fungi which lies in either ascomycota or ba-
sidiomycota. Ascomycota are known as sac
fungi and structurally different than be-
sidiomycota. Majority of mushroom falls
under besidiomycota thus here we discuss
the general biology of mushroom belong-
ing to besidiomycota. The figure 2.1 repre-
sents the fruit body of mushroom possess-
ing most of the features you will find on a
mushroom growing in the wild. However,
not all mushrooms have all these features.
The pileus (Cap):
Pileus is the extended portion of umbrella
shaped fruiting body of mushroom. Typi-
10
cally it is written as umbrella shaped how-
ever shape may vary with species and its
stage of growth. It can be conical, flat or
even spherical. The surface can be smooth,
hairy or carry scab like fragments which
are usually remnants of a universal veil if
one was present.
The Gills:
Gills are regularly arranged vertical folds
present below the pileus. Usually present
on the lower surface of the cap and com-
posed of many thin layers stacked side by
side. Some mushrooms will have pores in-
stead of gills. These are tiny tubes packed
closely together forming a sponge layer. Or
the underside of the cap maybe smooth,
wrinkled or veined. Externally gilles are
covered with fertile layer of cells called hy-
menium. The hymenium is responsible for
production of spores for sexual reproduc-
tion.
Fig 2.1 General morphology of mushroom
The Stipe: suitable substrates spores germinate send-
ing out tiny threads called hyphae (single:
It is the stalk holding the pileus. The stipe
hypha). These are single nucliated hypha
may be cylindrical, clavate, sinulate, bulbus
and are called primary hypha. The primary
etc. Some of mushroom lack the stipe and
hypha forming mycelium is called primary
pileus are directly attached to the sub-
mycelium and is unable to form any fruit-
strate.
ing body. When two compatible hypha
Annulus or veil: strand comes closer, they get connected
forming dikaryotic hypha. The dikaryotic
At initial stage of mushroom development,
hypha soon covers the substrate forming
the pileus are curved back to the stipe and
complex mycelial network. This mycelium
attached completely. During the develop-
eventually forms what is known as a rhizo-
ment the pileus gets extended leaving a
morph which grows and develops into a
fringe like ring on the stem which is called
pinhead which in turn grows and develops
annulus. This can be very obvious in some
into a mushroom and then it all starts
species and barely visible in others.
again.

Universal veil or vulva:

There is another type of veil occurring in

some species called a universal veil. This
covers the whole mushroom as it emerges
from the ground, and as it grows, the veil
breaks leaving behind the Volva or cup
seen in the above diagram. Remnants of
this type of veil can also been seem on the
upper surface of the cap in some species.

Life cycle of Mushroom

Fig 2.2 Lifecycle of mushroom
The lifecycle of mushroom starts from the
spores released from the gills. Millions of
spores are released at once. On getting

11
Classification of mushroom
Kingdom Fungi
* Phylum Chytridiomycota
* Phylum Zygomycota
* Phylum Ascomycota
* Phylum Basidiomycota
Kingdom Stramenopila
* Phylum Oomycota
* Phylum Hyphochytriomycota
* Phylum Labyrinthulomycota
Classification adopted from Alexopoulos
c.j. et. al. (2002).“Introductory mycology”.
fourth edition. Wiley India (P) Ltd.
1. Phylum Ascomycota:
The fungus posses di-karyotic stage in its
lifecycle and are able to produce plecten-
chymatous structures associated with
spore production. The distinguishing char-
acter is the production of sexual spores on
a sac like structure called ascus (thus
sometime this phylum is also called as sac
fungi).
12
Among different classes under phylum as-
comycota only pezizomycetes and pyre-
nomycetes fall under the definition of
mushroom. Thus we will discuss on only
those systematics level which is considered
as mushroom.
Pyrenomycetes :
It i n c l u d e s f o l l o w i n g o r d e r s : Hy p o-
creales, Melanosporales, Microascales
and Phyllachorales.
Order: Hypocreales
This order is characterized by pale to
brightly colored, fleshy stromata; perithe-
cial ascocarps in most species; ovoid to cy-
lindrical asci with an apical pore in a more
or less thickened apex; ascospores spheri-
cal to needle like, one to several celled
breaking in to part spores in some species.
Important family under hypocereals is
Clavicipitaceae.
Clavicipitaceae
Members of this family are morphologi-
cally distinct within hypocereales and are
characterized by bright or darkly pig-
mented fleshy stromata often in shades of
orange and yellow or a subiculum, long,
narrowly cylindrical(edible
Fig: 2.2. Morchella asci with thickened
mushroom)
dome like caps perforated by long cylindri-
cal pores and paraphyses formed on the lat-
eral walls of the ascocarp . The ascospores
are thread like and extend the length of the
ascus in some species the septate asco-
spores break into fragments at the septa
that are called part spores. This family in-
cludes two important genus which are
Claviceps and Cordyceps.
Fig 2.3 Stroma of Cordiceps spp.
Pezizomycetes
Pezizomycetes are apothecial fungi, mean-
ing that their spore-producing/releasing
bodies (ascoma) are typically disk-like, bear-
ing on their upper surfaces a layer of cylin-
drical spore-producing cells called asci,
from which the spores are forcibly dis-
charged. The Pezizales, the only order of
the Pezizomycetes, is characterized by asci
13
that generally open by rupturing to form a
terminal or eccentric lid or operculum.
The ascomata are apothecia or are closed
structures of various forms that are de-
rived from apothecia.The Pezizales are sap-
rophytic, mycorrhizal or plant parasitic;
the biotic interactions of many taxa are
not known. The order includes ca. 1125 de-
scribed species, classified in 15 families.
Among these families, here we will discuss
about Pezizaceae, Morchellaceae and
Helvellaceae.
Morchellaceae
It is a group of edible fungi of ascomycete
fungi. According to a standard reference
work, the family has contained at least 49
species distributed among 4 genera but in
2012, 5 genera producing the sequestrate
and hypogeous ascoma were added.The
best-known members are the highly re-
Fig 2.4 Morchella spp.
garded and commercially picked true mo- Pezizaceae
rels of the genus Morchella, the thimble mo-
The Pezizaceae (commonly referred to as
rels of the genus Verpa, and a genus of cup-
cup fungi) are a family of fungi in the Asco-
shaped fungi Disciotis. The remaining four
mycota which produce mushroom sthat
genera produce the sequestrate fruit bod-
tends to grow in the shape of a "cup".
ies.
Spores are formed on the inner surface of
the fruit body (mushroom). The cup shape
typically serves to focus raindrops into
Helvelaceae:
splashing spores out of the cup. Addition-
The Helvellaceae are a family of ascomy- ally, the curvature enables wind currents to
cete fungi, the best known members of blow the spores out in a different manner
which are the elfin saddles of the genus than in most agarics and boletes.
Helvella. Originally erected by Elias Mag-
nus Fries in 1823 as Elvellacei, it contained
many genera. Several of these, such as Gyro-
mitra and Discina.

Fig 2.6 Aleuria aurentia

2. Phylum Besidiomycota

The fungi comprising the phylum basidio-

mycota commonly are known as basidiomy-
cetes. Basidiomycetes are characterized
primarily by the fact that they produce
Fig 2.5 Helvella spp. their sexual spores, termed as basidio-
spores on the outside of a specialized mi-
14
croscopic spore producing structure called
the basidium. Although some basidiomy-
cetes have a tendency to grow as yeast , my-
celia of better known species consist of
well developed septate hyphae that grows
through the substrate and absorb nourish-
ment. the mycelium of most heterothallic
basidiomycetes passes through three dis-
tinct stages of development- the primary,
the secondary and the tertiary before the
fungus completes its lifecycle. the germi-
nated besidiospore produces primary myce-
lia which on growth gets fused with com-
patible mycelia to form secondary mycelia.
the growth of secondary mycelia continue
to form more specialized and organized tis-
s u e t h a t c o m p r i s e t h e b a s i d i o c a r p .
 Boletaceae can be distinguished easily
this class, including bracket fungi and toad-
stools. Among different order under hyme-
nomycetes here we will discuss on Agari-
cales Aphyllophorales and auriculariales.
Order Agaricales
This order is called as gilled fungi because
it produces membranous folded structures
underneath the prominent pilus called
gills. Agaricales are ubiquitous mushroom
adopted to various ecological condition. It
includes edible and delicious mushrooms
like Agaricus bisporous to dadly poisonous
mushrooms like Amanita muscarina.
Family Boletaceae
from other families of agaricales.

Besidiomycetes are a large and diverse lot

and includes forms commonly known as
mushrooms, boletes, puffballs, earthstars,
stinkhorns, bird’s nest fungi, bracket or
shelf fungi.This phyllum contains three
classes namely ustilaginomycetes, Uredinio-
mycetes and Hymenomycetes and most
of edible mushroom falls under this phy-
lum.

• Hymenomycetes

Hymenomycetes was the largest class of

fungi within the phylum Basidiomycota,
but the term is no longer taxonomically
relevant. Many familiar fungi belong to Fig 2.6 Boletus spp.
15
Although on the first glance the basidio-
carp of a bolete may resemble that of a
typical mushroom, there is one significant
difference: instead of bearing gills on the
underside of the pileus, most boletes pos-
ses vertically arranged tubes. thus this
group is called as polyporels.
Family Amanitaceae
This family includes the well known genus
Amanita whic is characterized by white
spores, free gills and the presence of an an-
nulus and a volva. These last two struc-
tures are, however, not always conspicuous
on all specimens. In some species the annu-
lus is very friable and disappears quickly
while in others the volva may be buried
Fig 2.7 Amanita muscarina
16
and difficult to see or may simply slough
off. Amanita species are some of most at-
tractive mushrooms. Particularly striking
are A. virosa (the destroying angel) with ist
pure white basidiocarp.
Although a few species of amanita are edi-
ble, the genus is notorious for its poison-
ous members, some of which are deadly.
Family Agaricaceae
Agaricaceae is a large family containing
about 25 genera. One of the best known is,
ofcourse, Agaricus. Agaricus generally pro-
duces a basidiocarp with a white to brown
or gray-brown cap, free gills, an annulus
but no volva and a stalk that readily
Fig 2.8 Pileus of Agaricus showing gills
separates from the cap. In a young basidio-
carp the gills may be light in color - ofthe
pink or white but eventually darken assum-
ing the color of mature spores. The genus
contains some of the really fine edible
mushrooms, including A. campestris and
A. rodmani but few species including A.
xanthodermus can cause gastrointestinal dis-
turbances. Agaricus bisporus the mushroom
commercially grown mushroom also be-
longs here.
Family Pluteaceae
members of Pluteaceae produce pink spores
and are frequent on all kinds of wood or lit-
ter. Pluteus and Volvariella are the best
known members of the family. Pluteus cervi-
nus is a good edible species that is common
on sawdust piles. Volvariella volvacea is of
course the so called paddy straw mush-
room that is grown commercially for food.
Fig 2.9 Vulvariella spp.
Family Coprinaceae.
The best known members of this family
are Coprinus, Psathyrella and Panaeolus,
all dark-spored genera producing black to
17
purple-brown or purple-black spores. Mem-
bers of this family may be found in dead
wood, dung, soil and litter. The genus Co-
prinus is characterized by black-spored spe-
cies with inaequi-hymeniferoous gills that
tend to deliquesve into a black, inky liquid
that drips from the disintegrating cap.
Thus species of Coprinus commonly are
known as inky-cap mushroom. Coprinus
comatus, the shaggymane mushroom, is a
common, easy to recognize species and a
good edible mushroom if collected early.
Some species of Coprinus grow as weed
fungi on commercial lot of Pleurotus Agari-
cus and Vulvariella mushroom cultivation.
Fig 2.10 Coprinus spp.
Order Aphyllophorales
The order aphyllophorales used to be an
important group of basidiomota of about
1200 described species depending upon
what is included in the order and there is
debate of this question. Many species pro-
duces basidiocarp, that are visible even
from a distance. Forms with more obvious
basidiocarps are known as pore fungi, club
fungi, coral fungi, tooth fungi, bracket
fungi and shelf fungi. Now this order has
become obsolete.
Classification Based on Substrate
preference
Coprophillus:
Dung loving saprophytic fungi are known
as coprophillus mushroom. It is adoptive
to low lignin containing substrates, E.g.
Bird nest fungi, Coprinopsis narcotica, Psilo-
cye cubensis.

Lignicolous:
Gastromycetes
Mushroom requiring substrates with high
Gastromycetes literay means ‘stomach
lignin content for its growth is called as lig-
fungi’ a polyphyletic assemblage of basidio-
nicolous mushroom. It attacks tree trunks
mycetous fungi characterized by the fact
and other high lignin containing substrates
that their basidiospores matures inside the
and causes their decay. E.g. Armalaria sps
basidiocarps and are not discharge forcibly
from the basidia. Common examples of Corticolous:
gasteromycetes include forms known as
Growing on bark of tree as bracket or
puffballs, earthstars, stinkhorns and bird’s
conk, causes decay and rot of tree are
nest Fungi. Gastromycetes includes differ-
known as corticolous mushroom. Only few
ent orders including Lycoperdales, Nidular-
species of corticolous mushrooms are edi-
iales, Tulostomatales etc.
ble. E.g. Ganoderma lucidum, Fistulina hepat-
ica

Fig 2.11 A puffing puff ball

18
3
Cultivation of But-
ton Mushroom
White button mushroom or button mush-
room (Agaricus bisporus) is a mushroom of
temperate region. This species ranks the
first position for world mushroom produc-
tion and supply market. Even it is adopted
to temperate condition, it can be grown
anywhere where essential condition of tem-
perature, moisture and ventilation is met.
Environmental conditions
The optimum temperature for spawn run
is 22-25°C. The fructification precess oc-
curs better in 14-18°C. A minor variation in
temperature during fructification may hin-
der the crop growth. At higher tempera-
ture, the infestation of moulds and bacte-
ria is high while in lower temperature, the
growth of mushroom is arrested. Moisture
is another important factor after tempera-
19
ture. The atmosphere around mushroom
growing should be nearly saturated with
water vapor. To meet such situation, mush-
room house are irrigated, and humidifier
can be installed. However, direct irrigation
to the bed somehow injurious to the crop
growth thus are often applied with sprayer.
during the crop production period, we
should be able to maintain CO2 level of
0.10-0.15%. The buildup of CO2 inside
mushroom house turns injurious to our
crop thus effective ventilation is necessary
to avoid the effect toxic gas accumulation.
As a rule of thumb by van Soest (1977), for
a every kilo of fresh mushroom produce
from a meter of bed area, we need one cu-
bic meter of fresh year per hour at 16°C.
Cultivation method
The cultivation scheme for button mush-
room is quite long in comparison to oyster
mushroom cultivation. The cultivation
scheme can be best studied in following
steps:
Compost preparation
Composting is defined as microbial degra-
dation of organic materials. In button
mushroom a number of organic waste and
by products can be used as composting ma-
terial. best on the purpose: the materials
used on composting can be classified in to
following:
Base materials:
The base material constitute the larger por-
tion of the prepared compost. These mate-
rial are expected to provide cellulose, hemi-
cellulose, lignin and other complex carbo-
hydrate to the growing fungus. Basically,
horse manure, wheat straw, rice straw,
maize cobs are the well know examples of
basic materials. This maintain the physical
state of mushroom growing substrate for
better microbial activity and creates desir-
able condition
Table 3.1 Suggested formulations of compost for button mushroom cultivation
Hayes and Randle
Particular Natural (IARI)
Rice straw
Horse dung 1000 kg
Supplements
It refers to those materials added to base
materials before/during composting to add
nutrient elements, carbohydrate, protein
and to activate the fomentation process.
These materials enhances the nutritive
value of compost thus improve the produc-
tivity. Chicken manure, rice bran, wheat
bran, concentrate meal, cotton seeds are
examples of supplements of biological ori-
gin. Nitrogenous fertilizers as ammonium
sulfate, calcium ammonium nitrate and
urea may be used to provide nitrogen to
the compost which is later used by mi-
crobes during composting and finally trans-
lated to microbial protein. the microbe af-
Synthetic Shin et al
NARC
(1969) (IARI) (1971)
1000kg 1000kg
1016 kg

Chicken manure 101.6 kg 100kg

Wheat straw 350 kg 1000kg

Wheat bran 80 kg
Ammonium sulphate/
Calcium ammonium 10kg 20kg
nitrate
TSP 7kg
Urea 3kg 12-15kg 5kg
Lime 30 kg
Gypsum 30-40 kg 15kg 40-50kg 20 kg
Molasses 38.1 kg
Cotton meal 15.24kg

20
ter deactivation release these protein ands
makes it available for mushroom growth.
Type of compost
Based on the base material used for com-
post preparation, the compost can be clas-
sified as either natural or synthetic com-
post. Natural compost is prepared from
horse dung along with the beddings used
in horse barn. The horse dung with bed-
dings are collected and mixed with one
third of wheat straw. Supplements may be
added for correction of deficiency. Then
these materials are composted to form
natural compost. In contrast the synthetic
compost is made from wheat straw or rice
straw as base material. Chicken manure
can be added for nitrogen supplementa-
tion. However the dung of animals like
cow, buffalo cant be use as supplement
even these things contain nitrogen.
Composting method
The methods employed for compost prepa-
ration for Agaricus bisporus cultivation are
of two types. A method requiring long du-
ration (around 4 weeks) for completion of
composting thus called long method of
composting. In contrast another method
takes only 12 days for preparation of com-
post thus called short method. In short
method, composting is carried out in con-
trolled condition hence the microbial proc-
21
ess is faster resulting formation of high
quality compost with in short duration.
During composting, there is increase in
number of aerobic mesophiles. These or-
ganisms start to breakdown the long chain
of polysaccharides and converts to short
and readily available form for the growth
of the mushroom. With increase in tem-
perature, soon there is increase in thermo-
philes which further decompose the or-
ganic substrate to simpler form. the ap-
plied inorganic nitrogen is trapped and util-
ized by microbes to make microbial pro-
tein.
Long method of composting
It is the oldest technique for compost
preparation. Since the composting process
allows the substrate to stand at higher tem-
perature for long duration, the process
omits the necessity of pasteurization. Thus
the cost involvement is very low in com-
parison to short method and is still popu-
lar in resource poor farming community.
Initially the base materials like wheat
straw, rice straw are chopped to about a
feet long piece then the straw is soaked in
cold water for 8-10 hours. On next day the
the straw is heaped on a clean composting
floor. The composting floor can be cleaned
with 4% formalin before the composting
starts. Then the composting process is car-
ried out as per following schedule.
Day Zero (first day of composting)
The base materials and supplements like
chicken manure, concentrated meal, bran,
oil cakes (according to the formulation) are
mixed and stacked forming a heap as
shown in fig (3.1). The moisture content of
composting material is maintained to 75%.
Increased moisture content may foster the
anaerobic fomentation leading to forma-
tion of soggy and greasy compost with off
smell which don't allow the proper growth
of mushroom.
Day Five (first turning)
At this turning phase, compost heap is
opened and separated in three different
portions of top, middle and central region.
then the nematicide (for eg: furadon 0.6g
per kg composting material) are mixed
well. Irrigation is applied to maintain the
moisture level and materials are re-heaped
as such the top portion of earlier heap
goes to the bottom the bottom portion
goes to middle section and central portion
comes to the top of new heap.
Day Ten (Second turning)
compost heap is opened and separated as
in day five, supplements like molasses and
lime is mixed throughly and irrigation is ap-
22
plied. Then the materials is re-heaped as
explained earlier.
Day Thirteen (Third turning)
The heap is opened again and gypsum is
mixed then stacked again with the top and
side portions at bottom, the bottom por-
tion at middle and the central portion on
the top and sides.
Day Sixteen ( Fourth turning)
The compost heap is opened again and wa-
ter is applied. Then re-heaping is done as
earlier.
Day Nineteen (Fifth turning)
As like to fourth turning, heap is turned
and irrigated.
Day Twenty Two (Sixth turning)
The compost heap is opened and turned as
explained in earlier stage.
Day Twenty Five (Seventh turning)
At this stage pesticide solution is made
with Dithane M-45 2.5gm/lt and Nuvan
1ml per liter. Then the compost is sprayed
with the pesticide solution at the rate of
20 liter per ton of compost. Then the mix-
ture is heaped again.
Day Twenty Eight (Eighth or last turning)
At this stage the compost heap is opened
and spreader on a clean floor to remove
the excess ammonia. Periodic check may
be necessary to determine the proper re-
moval of ammonia. generally compost are
left in such condition for two days before
preparing the mushroom bed. However, if
chicken manure is used as nitrogen supple-
ment, one more turning may be necessary
for proper composting.
At the composting process the tempera-
ture in deep core of heap reaches to 72*C .
Thus this temperature causes pasteuriza-
tion of compost. If we fail to re-locate t
Fig 3.1 Sketch showing compost heap
Short method of composting
As described by Sinden and Hauser (1950)
composting with short method is carried
out in two phase. The first phase is similar
to the initial stages of long method of com-
posting.
First phase: The out door phase
The ingredients are prepared as explained
for long method of composting and heap
23
ed in the usual way. Turnings are done on
second, fourth and sixth day of compost-
ing. At fourth day, full dose of gypsum is
mixed before heaping. Then on eighth day,
partially prepared compost is kept on trays
and moved to the indoor where further
composting and pasteurization is carried
out.
Second phase: The indoor phase
Second phase is accomplished with heat-
ing arrangement . Particularly, in this
phase, ammonia is converted to microbial
protein and at the end of process pasteuri-
zation is carried out with increasing tem-
perature or some chemical agents.
The partially formed compost is loosely
filled in trays and those trays are packed
one on the top of another. The trays are
made in such away that there will be 15 cm
space between the layer of trays. The room
is now sealed and temperature inside the
room is increased to 52-54*C with the help
of life stem. This condition is maintained
for two days and temperature is further
raised to 60*C for four hours. Then the
stem supply is cutoff and room is cooled to
52-54*C again. room is maintained at this
temperature for four days .At this state am-
monia is completely escaped and the com-
post is gradually cooled to room tempera-
ture then the trays are ready for spawning.

Fig 3.1 Sketch showing tray used in
composting and growing
$$ $ $ mushroom
At the end of composting, the composted
strands of composted straw must be easily
breakable with brown in color. the nitro-
gen content on compost must be in be-
tween 2-2.4 percentage. The maximum ac-
ceptable ammonia in compost is 0.07%.
Above this concentration spawn run is hin-
dered. Optimum pH range is 6-6.5. The
moisture content in good compost muse
be in between 60-68%. Palm test can be
conducted to judge the moisture content
of compost. In palm test, hand full of com-
post is compressed by single palm, it
makes the hand wet but no drop of liquid
gets squeezed out of the compost.
Spawning
After preparation of compost, compost
bed of around 15-20 cm thick are made on
24
wooden rack or on the floor. In rack sys-
tem generally racks with 1 meter width
and convenient length are used. If the
composting is done with short method us-
ing trays; the same trays filled for phase II-
are used as compost bed. Modification like
growing in plastic bag is also practiced.
Generally spawning is done 2 days after
compost bed preparation. As per recom-
mendation of NARC, one ton of compost
requires 5 kilogram of spawn. In ideal grow-
ing condition less amount of spawn is also
effective but in adverse condition in-
creased amount of spawn helps to fight suc-
cessfully against any other organism. thus a
good inoculation of spawn is the insurance
against adverse condition. Different spawn-
ing methods are on practice which are:
a) Top layer spawning/single layer spawn-
ing
$ Spawn is applied on the top of compost
bed and again covered with layer of com-
post (about 4 cm thick)
b) Double layer spawning
$ Spawn is applied over the compost when
bed is half filled. Then, after filling the bed
completely with compost, another layer of
spawn is applied on the top and covered
with thin layer of compost.
c) Through spawning
Spawn is mixed thoroughly with compost
and the mixture is filled in the compost
bed.
d) Active mycelium spawning
$ The method first employed in Germany
uses fully run trays of spawned compost
for spawning further trays.
e) Spot spawning
Grain spawn are planted in the holes made
at optimum distance on the compost bed.
A careful management is necessary after
spawning. The mushroom house is kept hu-
mid (RH=80-85%) with 22-25*C tempera-
ture. Ventilation is minimized. The com-
post bed is covered by news paper steril-
ized with 4% formaldehyde. Irrigation is
provide to keep the moisture of compost
bed close to 65%. In the compost bed with
high moisture, growth of the mycelium
gets stopped and when the moisture is too
low the mycelium becomes stringy. After
maintaining such condition for 14-15 days,
the compost bed will gets covered with my-
celium of mushroom. The total mushroom
house imparts smell of fresh mushroom.
Casing
25
Casing is the process of covering the mush-
room bed with soil or related material for
effective anchorage of mushroom. It also
helps to retain the moisture in the bed by
reducing the rate of evaporation. Further,
when the mycelium enters the nutrient
deficit casing, the mycelium gets stimu-
lated to form fruiting bodied.The desirable
characteristics of casing material are:
a) Good water holding capacity
b) Proper pore space allowing good aera-
tion of the mushroom bed
c) Neutral to slightly basic (8) pH
d) Free from harmful organisms and large
particles
e) Deficit in nutrient necessary for mush-
room
Casing is done 14-15 days after spawning.
At the time of casing, the sheet of paper
kept after spawning is removed to expose
the compost bed totally covered with fun-
gal mycelium. Then casing material is ap-
plied evenly on the top with the thickness
of 3 cm.
In practice, a number of formulation has
been suggested to farmers for preparation
of effective casing material. combination
loamy soil with moss peat in 1:1 ratio giv-
ing 50% void is desirable for the purpose.
Alternatively the combination of clay loam-
soil with FYM and spent medium in 1:1:2
ratio can be used. Some time combination
of spent medium and sand in 2:1 ratio can
be used. The selection of formulation is
based on availability of those
ingredients.The ingredients are mixed well
and large particles are removed and is
spread on cemented floor up to the thick-
ness of 15 cm. Then mixture is drenched
with 2% formalin solution at the rate of 3
liter per cubic meter of casing mixture.
the mixture is then heaped and covered
with plastic sheet for 2-4 days. Finally the
heap is opened to evaporate the residual
formalin and to dry the casing mixture to
optimum moisture level. After a week of
evaporation, mixture is ready for applica-
tion.
Alternatively, stem can be used for pasteuri-
zation of casing mixture. Live stem is in-
jected in to the mixture and continuously
heated to 65-70*C for 5-6 hours. Then the
mixture is allowed to cool down before the
use.
house. Formation mushroom primordia
can be observed around 25 days of spawn-
ing.
Harvesting
Since the pin head stage is the resting
stage of button mushroom, it may remain
at same size for 2 more days then it con-
tinue to grow in size and becomes ready to
harvest with in 7-10 days. The mushroom
is then harvested. Harvesting is done by
pressing the pileus against the compost
bed and twisting. Then the base contain-
ing compost is cut off. The place of mush-
room harvested is then leveled with small
amount of casing mixture to avoid water
logging for next flush. Three economic
flush can be expected from each compost
bed. The productivity of the button mush-
room greatly depends upon the success of
composting method. In Nepal the produc-
tivity has been realized to be 200-300kg
fresh mushroom/ ton of compost.

Pinning After harvest the mushroom is graded ac-

cording to its stage of growth and its size.
Soon after spawning, the temperature of
mushroom house is gradually lowered to Buttons:
14-18*C with increasing the humidity to
It is the most preferred stage of button
85-90%. Ventilation is allowed with dif-
mushroom. It gets the perineum price in
fused sunlight inside the mushroom

26
the market. The stipe length of button is
less than 2 cm and pileus size is 3-6cm.

Cups:

The stage at which the pileus just gets

opened are called cups. The size of pileus
is 2.5-7 cm in diameter

Opens:

It is late stage mushroom. The pileus gets

opened completely forming T shape um-
brella. The size of the pileus ranges from 5-
7 cm diameter

27
4
Cultivation of Oys-
ter Mushroom
Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus spp.) named be-
hind its shape, which looks like oyster
shell. It is one of the widely grown mush-
rooms and is also flourishing in almost all
tropical mushroom-growing countries. The
genus Pleurotus consist 38 well known spe-
cies with diversity in color and climatic re-
quirement. The intra-genus diversity of
this mushroom allowed us to choose spe-
cies according to our season of cultivation.
The commonly cultivated species of this
mushroom includes P. sajor-caju, P. florida, P.
ostreatus, P. sapidu, P. djamor, P. eringii, P. eous,
P. citrinopileatus, P. flavellatus, P. cornucopiae.
Among them, P. florida, P. ostreatus and P.
sajor-caju are commonly cultivated in Ne-
pal.
Pleurotus florida
This species was firstly isolated from Flor-
ida by Tsao and Han (1958). The species
forms typical oyster shell shaped white to
28
grey (light brown in lower temperature)
pileus with 8-20 cm in diameter. The stipe
is eccentric or lateral. The decurrent gill
bears besidia on hymenium which bears
four haploid spores. Spore is white in color
however it looks lilac on spore print.
Pleurotus ostreatus
This species is one of the best known
among the oyster mushroom. It is culti-
vated commercially on wood logs cereal
straw and other kinds of plant waste mate-
rials. Fructification in nature takes place in
autumn and winter in temperate countries
at temperature below 16°C. Morphologi-
cally this species is similar to P. florida how-
ever the pileus size is somewhat bigger.
The mushroom bears a short eccentric or
later stipe which is 1.0-3.0 cm long with
0.5-2.0 cm thick. Hymenophoral trama are
irregular and bears four besidiospores on
each besidium. It gives lilac spore print.
Pleurotus sajor-caju
This mushroom bears 1-3 cm long eccen-
tric stipe with pileus, which is often lobed
and folded with maturity giving coralloid
appearance. Size of pileus ranges between
5cm to 14 cm. the decurrent gills bears ir-
regular hymenophoral trama. The besidio-
spores are hyaline, cylindrical and smooth
with 6.5-7.5X2.7-3.3 um size. This mush-
room is soft and white when the weather is
hot, and greyish in cold weather. The spore
print is white.
Pleurotus eryngii
it grows naturally in southern Europe and
the areas of central Asia and North Africa.
It is parasitic on the roots of certain um-
beliferous plants such as Eryngiun campes-
tris, Ferula sp. So far this has been culti-
vated only experimentally. Its pleasent
aroma and culinary qualities make it the
most desirable species of pleurotus. It can
be found in the markets of spain, Morocoo
and India.
Pleurotus eryngii
This species is commonly known as “king
oyster mushroom”. It bears white convex
pileus which is 4-15 cm in diameter which
with expansion becomes depressed at the
center and changes color to brown. Stipe is
3-10 cm long and spore print is white to
liliac. This mushroom requires cold shock
for fructification and mycelial growth is
quite slow.
Environmental requirements.
A number of environmental factors influ-
ence the growth of oyster mushroom. Dur-
ing the spawn run oyster mushroom needs
29
temperature from 20-30* C. However varia-
tion in temperature requirement can be
seen between species of Pleurotus. In P.
sajor-caju, the optimum temperature for
mycelium growth is 25°C. The primodia of
fruiting bodies are initiated at temperature
ranging from 15*to 25°C and are most abun-
dant at 22-26°C. In P. ostreatus the optimum
temperature for fruit-body formation is
around 16°C. Mycelial growth of all the cul-
tivated species is stimulated by high CO2
concentration in the air. Carbondioxide
concentration in the air from 2-28% V/V
stimulates the growth and the growth is in-
hibited only at 37% CO2. High CO2 con-
centration in the substratum is helpful in
its establishment as other competing or-
ganism cannot tolerate such high concen-
trations. The mycelial growth takes place
under semi anaerobic condition but a sup-
ply of oxygen must be provided for fruit-
body formation. Optimum pH of the sub-
strate is between 5.5 and 6.5. In the initia-
tion of primodia and development of fruit-
ing bodies, light is essential.
Growing sites
Pleurotus spp. are usually grown indoors and
any well ventilated room would be suit-
able. In places where climate is humid
houses made of bamboo, thatch and mud-
plaster are recommended. In such house,
split-bamboo walls are made and over this
a thick plastering of mud mixture contain-
ing clay and cow dung is evenly applied. for
insulation, an outer wall 15 cm apart is
made all around and mud plastered from
the outside. The floor of such a house
should be cemented. the roof is made of
thick thatch layers. A false celling is desir-
able. Ventilation shafts are made in the
room. However, a room of 3mX3mX3. 5m
has 2 small windows on the rear wall and a
door in the front. Inside the room, bam-
boo shelves are provided in 3 tiers at least
a meter apart half a meter waway from the
walls.
Cultivation Methods
Pleurotus mushroom is generally grown in-
d o o r s . Mu s h r o o m h o u s e c a n b e co n-
structed as described in section ….. or any
indoor place can be used for its produc-
tion. It is also important that the roof i.e.
insulated by thatching to protect it from
getting heated by direct sun. A variation of
methods has been developed for cultiva-
tion of the oyster mushroom. These all
methods follow the same basic steps:
Substrate and its Preparation
Oyster mushroom prefers to grow on ligno-
cellulosic materials. Agricultural bi-
30
products like paddy straw, maize stalk,
wheat straw, mustards sticks, sesame resi-
dues, maize cobs, banana leaves etc have
been successfully utilized as substrate for
cultivation of oyster mushroom. However,
rice straw not more than a year old is effec-
tive. Dried substrates are collected with
avoiding other impurities and are proc-
essed for cultivation. Wheat straw is ready
to use when wheat is harvested with com-
bine harvester. Those substrates are stored
in dry place to avoid the contamination
and further decay. Saw dust is stored for
about 6 month before it is used as sub-
strate in oyster cultivation. Growth of my-
celium may be accelerated by supplement-
ing the substrate with protein rich matter
including soybean flour, wheat or rice bran
and sodium or calcium nitrate.
Paddy straw is chopped to about 5 cm or a
smaller length. The chopped straw is
soaked in water overnight in water contain-
ing 0.00025% bleaching powder and 1%
lime. If wheat straw is used it should be sof-
tened by composting for a week.
Sterilization
The presoaked substrate is then sterilized
with available methods: following methods
are employed for sterilization purpose:
a)$ Hot water sterilization
b)$ Stem sterilization
c)$ Chemical sterilization
a) Hot water sterilization: The pre-
soaked substrate is drained and kept in a
large vessel. Then boiling water is poured
in the vessel is covered with wooden
planks. The substrate is maintained in
such condition for 2 hours and addition of
boiled water may be necessary to raise tem-
perature above 65°C. Boiling the pre-
soaked substrate in a container for 30 min-
utes can also do same task. Then excess wa-
ter is drained out and cooled on a clean
floor.
b) Stem Sterilization: It is the most
reliable technique of sterilization of sub-
strate. Heavy equipments are available for
performing the task in industrial level of
mushroom production however; metal
utensil of optimum size can be used in
small-scale mushroom farming. Utensil like
metal drum are filled 1/5th with tap water
and a metal screen placed above it. Pre-
soaked substrate is placed on the screen.
Here care should be taken to avoid the di-
rect contact of the substrate to the boiling
water. Then the apparatus is covered with
high-density plastic and heating is done on
burning fire. It takes about 45-60 minutes
to make our substrate sterile actually after
the water starts to boil. Then the substrate
is take out of the utensil and allowed to
cool on a clean floor before spawning
31
c) Chemical Sterilization: Use of
chemical for sterilization may be practiced
where other sterilization methods are lim-
ited. A chemical mixture containing 3g
carbendazim, 25 ml formalin and 20 liter of
water is prepared (Vijay and Sohi, 1987).
The chopped substrates are immersed in
this chemical mixture for 16-18 hours.
Then excess liquid is drained and substrate
is allowed to dry to the optimum moisture
level of 65%.
Spawning and Bagging
Cultivation of pleurotus is usually carried
out in transparent plastic bags. It is also
possible to grow it in trays, which can be
stacked vertically; beds can also be made
on shelves. Another popular method is to
make blocks of convenient size by using a
mould. A wooden mould
(50cmX30cmX15cm ) having no top or bot-
tom is usually used.
Spawn is mixed with the prepared sub-
strate (soaked paddy straw) @ 2-5% of the
wet substrate weight. When the condi-
tions are favorable for spawn run, it is pos-
sible to use a smaller quantity of spawn.
Over spawning can be cause rise in tem-
perature and carbondioxide concentration
within the substrate which can be harmful
for the mycelium. The colonized substrate
is the active myceliym and can be used as
spawn.
Spawned substrate is packed in bags or
filled in mould. It is important that the
amount of substrate should be such that
the temperature within should not exceed
30°C. It has been found that maximum
amount should be about 6kg (equivalent of
1.5 kg dry straw) and this should be packed
to two third the plastic bag (45cmX60cm)
or compressed in the mould. Smaller bags
for smaller quantities can also be used.
In practice, plastic bags of 45cm x 60cm
are filled with sterilized substrate up to 12
cm. Then a layer of spawn is applied on
the edge of the plastic. the process is re-
peated 4-5 time and the top of the bag is
tied with a rope.
The bags should be perforated by cutting
holes to permit ventilation within the sub-
strate and to cool down any increase in
temperature. Punctures are made in every
10 cm in the plastic bag. Sterile wooden
sticks may be used for the purpose. If
blocks are made they are loosely wrapped
in a transparent plastic sheet.
Incubation
32
After bagging, bags are moved to incuba-
tion rooms and are kept in total darkness
with 25-29°C temperature. Temperature
above 40°C is deleterious. The increment
of CO2 level on its surrounding up to 20%
is found to be beneficial for effective
spawn run. Humidity is maintained 80-
85% and bags are incubated for 12-14 days
in such condition. During this period the
mycelium completely permeates the sub-
strate in 12-14 days, forming a compact
block substrate. Compact substrate are ar-
ranged on the off shelves. Humidity is
built up by sprinkling water on floor and
walls frequently.
after 7-10 days. Within 4-5 weeks 3-4 flush
can be expected. But the yield decreases
progressively. The spent substrate can be
directly used as organic manure in the flow-
erbeds without any further decomposition
and has the same fertilizer value as the
farmyard manure.
Harvesting
This mushroom should be harvested when
the cap beings to fold and has attained a
diameter of 8-10 cm. Picking is done by
twisting the mushroom gently so that it is
pulled out without leaving any stub, and
also the surrounding fruit bodies are not
disturbed. The base of the stipe, deep
within the straw, should be removed by cut-
ting off with a sharp knife. It is possible to
get 500-800 g to a kilogram fresh mush-
rooms per kilogram of the dry substrate
(rice straw).

33
5
mushroom which can be studied under fol-
lowing two headings: 1) outdoor cultiva-
tion and 2) Indoor cultivation.

Outdoor cultivation of Paddy Straw

Mushroom
Cultivation of
Straw Mushroom This method of cultivation is less devel-
oped and regarded as conventional
This mushroom is also called as Chinese
method. The production is erratic and is
mushroom since it is believed to be first
not economical however marginal farmer
cultivated in China. The mushroom spe-
has no choice and they are still following
cies is adapted to hot and humid area with
this method till current days. The method
its temperature requirement of 30-39°C
consist of construction of raised bed made
and humidity of 80-90%. In Nepal, Terai
up of local materials like soil, wood, bricks,
belt is found optimum for its cultivation
stone etc. Generally beds of 100X60 cm
with out any climatic modification during
with 20 cm height are constructed under
the month of April to August. However
shed to avoid the direct sunlight, which
the poor and inconsistent yield perform-
may hinder the fructification of the mush-
ance along with very brief shelf life of
room. Straw bundles of 10 cm diameter
fresh mushroom hinders its production.
are prepared and soaked in clean water for
Mushroom stands only 6-8 hours at 28-
12-20 hours. Use of 7gm Derosal and 125
33°C and deterioration is continuous due
ml formalin per 100 liter of dipping solu-
to autolysis.
tion may give better result since these
The commonly cultivated species of paddy agents reduces the competitive molds and
straw mushroom are Volvariella volvacea, microbes. After soaking, straw bundles are
V. diplasia and V. esculenta. These species allowed to drain properly on cemented
are often cultivated on paddy straw and floor or on a tarpaulin.
cotton waste however the cultivation on
Bamboo poles of optimum length are laid
other agricultural waste has been prac-
on the bed in order to avoid the direct con-
ticed. A number of variations in cultivation
tact of straw to the ground. Then, the first
practice can be seen for production of this
34
layer of presoaked straw bundles are laid
side by side keeping the tide end at same
direction. On the top of that, similar layer
is stacked from opposite direction after 2
such layers, spawn is applied on the straw
12 cm inward from each edge. Addition of
concentrate meal in this layer as the addi-
tive may enhance the performance of culti-
vation scheme. Likewise, soaked straw bun-
dles are stacked layer by layer with apply-
ing the spawn at every fourth layer until
the height of the stack reaches to 60-80
cm. During the summer month the height
of stack are kept shorter in order to avoid
the heat buildup.
Now the entire bed is covered with trans-
parent plastic sheet and allowed to run the
spawn for a week (at 35°C). Midterm obser-
vation and application of water may be nec-
essary if the straw seems dry. The fructifi-
cation starts about 18-20 days after spawn-
ing and harvesting is done daily since the
optimum condition for harvest for this
mushroom is opens. In such cultivation
scheme, 12-14 kg fresh mushroom per 100
kg wet straw can be expected.
Indoor cultivation of Paddy Straw
Mushroom
35
Since the outdoor cultivation of paddy
straw mushroom gives only a fair yield, im-
provement has been made in the cultiva-
tion scheme with using the same basic prin-
ciples of button mushroom cultivation.
This method of cultivation uses the com-
posted substrate, which can readily pro-
vide the nutrients for growing fungus and
in addition pasteurization process reduces
assault of competitive molds.
Substrate Selection
As discussed in section …. a number sub-
strates can be used for cultivation of this
mushroom. However, the best suitable
substrates include, paddy straw, banana
leaves and cotton waste. Combination of
these substrates to get the C/N ratio of 20
to 50:1 gives best result for production of
paddy straw mushroom. Equal mixture of
paddy straw and cotton waste does the
task better with consistent yield perform-
ance. Additives like bran, concentrated
meal enhance the produtivity.
Composting
Composting materials are chopped and
soaked in 1% lime solution for 16 hours
then are mixed with 5% rice bran. Finally
the mixture is piled up in convient length Harvesting
and about 1 m height for two to three days.
Mushrooms are harvested just after the
Thus prepared compost is moved to pre-
volva breaks. The harvested mushroom re-
heated mushroom house and conditioning
mains for 6-8 hours in room temperature
is done with live stem. Compost is spread
and around 2-3 days under refrigerated con-
in mushroom house with the thickness of
dition.
15-20 cm and room heated to 50°C for two
days. Then temperature is gradually raised
to around 65°C for 24 hours and again
gradually lowered to 50-52°C. Finally venti-
lation is allowed to remove the excess am-
monia along with cooling process.

Spawning and Cropping

Spawning is performed in the same bed

used in mushroom house for conditioning
purpose. When the compost bed gets
cooled down to room temperature, spawn
is applied at the rate of 2% (w/w) with the
compost. After spawning the vantilations
are closed and beds are maintained at 34-
38°C with relative humidity of 85% in its
surrounding. The spawn run completes
with in 5-6 days in optimum condition
then the mushroom house is cooled to 28-
30°C by allowing the ventilation. Irriga-
tion may be necessary during this period.
By keeping the room at optimum condi-
tion with 85-90% humidity first harvest
can be expected with in next 6 days.

36
6
Cultivation of Shii-
take Mushroom
Shiitake (Lentinula edodes Syn. Lentinus
edodes) is well known for its unique taste
and flavour with enormous medicinal value
(Chang and Miles, 1987, Stamets, 1999).
This mushroom occupies second position
in global mushroom production and South
Asian countries particularly china, Japan,
Taiwan and South Korea are the major shi-
take producing countries. In Nepal, this
mushroom can be found Naturally in mid-
hills. However, the first cultivation in the
country was done in 1981 by plant pathol-
ogy division of NARC with the support of
a Japanese volunteer Dr. Yen Batanabele.
Morphologically the mushroom bears ec-
centric stipitate raddish brown pileus with
white patches on it. The cuticle of pileus
often breaks forming scales of various sizes
and the stipe is 3.0-5 X0.8-1.3 cm, solid, cy-
lindrical with rough brownish scales. Mush-
rooms usually born singly or in small group
37
without volva. The weight of well-grown
mushroom reaches 150-300gram. The gill
bears hymenium, which bears tetrasterig-
matic besidia bearing four besidiospore.
These haploid besidiospores are thin
walled and cylindrical in shape.
The commonly cultivated strains of shii-
take are Mori 290, XR 18, W4. he cultiva-
tion requirement of shiitake mushroom is
greatly differ from other mushroom. This
mushroom is generall y cultivated on
wooden logs or in bags of wooden sawdust.
These cultivation practices can be best
studied under following two headings: 1)
Bag cultivation and 2) Log cultivation.
Bag Cultivation
This method utilizes sawdust of non-
resinous hard wood for the cultivation pur-
pose. Generally sawdust of oaks (Quercus
sp.), Maple (Acer sp.) is used. Addition of
different additive like rice bran, wheat
bran etc. also been practiced for better
spawn run. There are a number of sug-
gested formulations for bag cultivation:
a)$ Saw dust- 80% and rice bran 20%
b)$ Saw dust-76%, rice bran-10%, wheat
bran-10%, calcium carbonate-2% and
gypsum-2%
c)$ Saw dust-80%, millet-10%, wheat
bran10%
d)$ Saw dust 90%, rice bran-10%, cal-
cium carbonate 0.2%
e)$ Sugarcane bagasse- 81% rice bran-
16%, gypsum- 2.4% potassium sulfate 15
gram, urea-15gram, magnesium sulfate 10
gram
f)$ Corn cobs 63%, saw dust 15.7% wheat
bran-19.6%, cane sugar-1.5%, pectin-15
gram, urea-20 gram
Saw dust is soaked for 18 hours and finally
mixed with other ingradients then mois-
ture is maintained to 65% and pH is ad-
justed to 5.5-7.0 with the use of calcium car-
bonate. The well-mixed ingredient is then
packed in high-density poly bags (generally
14 X 6.5 inch) for sterilization. The bag is
tied with heat resistant thread with a cot-
ton plug on the top. The packages are now
sterilized with stem in autoclave. Use of
metal drum can be done for this purpose
however it needs a careful sterilization to
eliminate the contaminations.
The well-sterilized bags are then moved to
a clean-cemented floor. Then the cotton
plug is removed and spawn is applied. Af-
ter application of spawn the pulg is put
back and the bags are moved to incubation
room. The sanitation of the incubation
38
room is of prime concern for economic
production. We can use chemical fumi-
gants like formalin (4%) in incubation
room as a spray a week before use. The in-
cubation condition is maintained with
complete darkness at 24-28°C temper
It generally takes three to four months for
complete spawn run. During this period to-
tal substrate gets covered with white myce-
lium, then the bags are opened which
changes the color of the spawn on the sur-
face to brown color. The mushroom house
is maintained with 85-95 %RH and 12-18°C
with 500-1,000 lux light and two irrigation
per day. A week after opening the bags,
minute bumps arise on the surface of bag,
which are the mushroom premoria. A
week after the premodia formation, mush-
room becomes ready to harvest. A careful
harvest is necessary to avoid the dissocia-
tion of the sawdust ball.
Log Based Cultivation
The cultivation of shitake was originally
done on shii (Castanopsis cuspidate) logs.
Only the logs of a selected tree species are
suitable for the cultivation of this mush-
room. Non-resinous lightweight hard
woods like shii, oaks (Quercus serrata Q.
acutissima, Q. mongolica), Mapple () are
found excellent for the production pur-
poses. Beside these three plant beech,
hornbeam (Carpinus sp.) chestnut (Casta-
nea crenata), Walnut (Juglans rejia) castro-
nopsis (Castronopsis indica), Alnus (Alnus
nepalayansis), Fraxinus (fraxinus flori-
bunda) saur maud abanjh etc.
Log Preparation
Trees of age 5-10 are found optimum for
log collection. Logs of 15-20 cm diameter
are collected during the fall season. Since
the stored carbohydrate is higher in win-
ter season, which fosters the development
of mushroom thus this season is effective
for log harvest. Special care should be
taken to avoid the pealing of the bark
since it acts as a protective barrier for en-
try of competitive molds. The collected
logs are then dried for 3-4 weeks on shed.
Then logs are drilled with a help of wood
drill. The size of each drill hole must be 1
cm in diameter with 2 cm depth. Such
holes are made lengthwise in every 10 cen-
timeter starting from 5 centimeter from a
cut end of log. The numbers of drill holes
are increased in the branched area of the
logs. For the logs with bigger diameter, the
numbers of holes are increased with reduc-
ing the distance between them. The mois-
ture content of the logs should be 35-40 %
at the time of spawning.
39
Spawning
Sawdust spawn and wooden plug spawn
(See chapter: ) are commonly used type of
spawn for shiitake cultivation. For the first
type, special injectors and pressure spawn
plugging tools are available to inject spawn
in to the drill holes. The task can be also
performed with sterile metal/ wooden
sticks or by safe hands. Similarly the
wooden plug spawn can be directly ham-
mered in to the holes. Then the each hole
is sealed with hot paraffin wax to avoid the
pathogen entry. Molten wax should be
ready before the spawning begins. After
the application of spawn the logs are tech-
nically called bed log.
Caring of Log
After spawning, the bed logs need inten-
sive care. The bed logs are moved to “lay-
ing yard” in a natural or artificial shade and
stacked on horizontal position. Use of
bricks and stones to avoid the direct touch
of bed logs to the ground will reduce the
chance of competitive molds. After arrang-
ing the bed logs thin cover with straw or
gunny bags are provided. Light irrigation
may be necessary for maintaining the opti-
mum (35-40%) moisture level of the log.
The increased moisture level (above 70%)
increases the attack of competitive molds. week of its appearance. The mature mush-
The optimum temperature for mycelial room is harvested completely with twist-
growth is 24-28°C. The bed logs are stored ing effect of hand or the help of any other
in such condition for 8-10 month with tools. Care should be taken for not to
turning every month. The position of the leave any stump of mushroom on the bed
logs are changed in each turning. log. Around 15-17% (w/w) fresh mushroom
can be expected from a bed log.
For the climatic condition like Kath-
mandu, logs are cut down on the month of The bed logs moisture content is primary
December and allowed to dry for a month. factor for determining the fructification
Then spawning is generally done on the process thus frequent irrigation may be
month of February. necessary. The logs after harvest are again
stacked for about two month and moved
for forcing and further fructification.
Forcing and Fructification Around four flush can be expected from a
log with well scheduled forcing and incuba-
The effective spawn run can be seen from
tion. However, the effect of weather can
the cut end of logs where white mycelial
be clearly seen in its flush cycle. The
growth is visible. After the effective spawn
month of January and February are found
run, logs are moved to the “raising room”.
not desirable due to lower temperature for
In the raising room, logs are sprayed with
the fructification process. Effective yield
chilled water and are held in vertical posi-
can be expected till the 3rd year from a sin-
tion with some support. The cold shock en-
gle log.
hances the fructification process and often
known as “forcing in shiitake cultivation”.
Same effect can also be achieved with im-
mersing those logs in cold water for 1-2
days and put back to the vertical position
in raising room. The raising room is always
kept clean with diffused sunlight, 20°C and
80-90% relative humidity.

Primordia develop with in 24 hours of cold

treatment and become ready with in a
40
7
Pro c e s s i n g a n d
Pre s e r v a t i o n o f
Mushroom
Mushroom is a highly perishable agricul-
ture commodity. Detoriation in quality dur-
ing the marketing process can heavily re-
duce the market value and even more may
turn unfit for human consumption. Since
the water content of mushroom is around
85-90% loss of weight is another big issue
for farmer and marketer.
On the basis of market demand, the mush-
room can be supplied in fresh or in proc-
essed form. The market surplus produced
in season can be saved and supplied in pre-
served form during off season. Preserva-
tion can be done by drying, canning or by
producing a number of diversified prod-
ucts.
Short-term Storage
For short term storage, refrigeration may
be useful. Mushroom are stored in plastic
package at 1-4°C. Depending upon the
41
mushroom species, it can extend the self
life from 1 day to two weeks. However,
some tropical mushroom may suffer from
chilling injury in that temperature.
The reduced loss in refrigeration is ob-
tained due to the reduced microbial activ-
ity, reduced metabolism and reduction in
the moisture loss. The commonly used
practice for oyster mushroom packaging is
pre-cooling of mushroom and then pack-
ing on styrofoam trays and sealed with plas-
tic wrapper from the top. the styrofoam
packaging gives better looks along with
avoid the moisture loss.
For button mushroom, it is kept on plastic
basket holding around 300 gram of mush-
room on each then it is wrapped with plas-
tic wrapper and are stored under refrigera-
tion.
Longterm storage
Mushroom can be preserved in dried and
canned form for long term storage. How-
ever, the quality of the mushroom may not
remain same and may or may not be
equally preferable in comparison to the
fresh form. The commonly used preserva-
tion techniques are:
a) Canning (Appertization)
Canning refers to a process of preservation
in which foodstuff are hermetically sealed
in a container and sterilized. It is a widely
used technique for preservation of button
mushroom. The market and for canned
mushroom is getting wider in recent years
thus is considerably being more special-
ized. The canning process should be
started right after harvesting. Incase it is
delayed then the mushrooms are stored at
4-5* till are processed. Firstly, mushrooms
of button stage are selected, washed and
immersed in 0.1 % citric acid and 0.3% So-
dium Metabisulphite. this process reduces
the discolouration of the mushroom. then
the mushroom is kept in boiling water con-
taining 0.1% citric acid for 5-6 min. this
act of boiling mushroom is called blanch-
ing. the blanching process inactivates the
enzymatic procedure on mushroom tissue
and elongates the self life. Then the boiled
mushroom is cooled immediately below
36°C with the use of cold water spray.
After blanching mushroom is kept on a
metal container containing 2.5% sodium
chloride and 0.5% citric acid. Then the
canes are sealed and sterilized with effec-
tive means. Finally the canes are cooled, la-
belled and marked.
b) Drying
Dried mushroom may serve as a ingredient
for a number of food items. Mushroom in-
cluding shiitake, straw mushroom, straw
mushroom are preserved in dried form. ex-
cess water (around 90% moisture) is re-
42
moved by a number of available way to
bring down the moisture percentage below
10%. these mushroom upon rehydration
regains considerable amount of original fla-
vor and texture. However the button
mushroom shows blacking during drying
process
Mushrooms are washed and blanched be-
fore drying. Then they are sliced in to the
optimum size and evenly spread on drier.
on the basis of source of heat, drier may be
of multiple type. Sun drying is the cheap-
est method of drying of mushroom. Ther-
mal power dryer may give the best result
since it allows us to regulate the tempera-
ture according to the need. initially dryer
is operated at 30-35°C for 5-6 hours then
temperature is gradually raised to avoid
the deterioration in mushroom quality.
Beside these heat drying process, osmotic
drying and freeze drying is also available.
In osmotic drying, mushrooms are kept on
salt to allow the ex-osmosis. when the
moisture content of mushroom drops to
around 35%, they are transferred to cabi-
net dryer for further drying. However, in
freeze drying blanched slices of mushroom
are freeze to -20 to 022°C and moisture is
removed by sublimation at very low vac-
uum (0.012 mbr) after lowering the mois-
ture content to 3% these dried products
are packed and marketed. the freeze dry-
ing process retains original shape and fla-
vor of the mushroom however, the dried
product is brittle and the drying process is
costlier.

43
8
Disease and insect
pest in mushroom
cultivation
Mushrooms are attacked by a number of
fungal, bacterial and viral diseases as well
as different insects and causes the eco-
nomic loss. A minor contamination from
substrate may result in huge outbreak in
cultivation. Thus the care should be taken
in every step of substrate preparation.
Spawn is another source of contamination
and is main source of viral diseases in
mushroom cultivation. The contaminated
tools, water supply, garments of workers
etc also acts as a carrier of insect pest in-
oculum. Thus proper care should be done
to avoid the insect pest attack:
Diseases of Mushroom
44
1. DRY BUBBLE
The disease is caused by Verticillium fungi-
cola thus also known as Verticillium dis-
ease. The disease is equally called as brown
spot, fungus spot. This is the most com-
mon and serious fungal disease of mush-
room crop. It specially attacks on button
mushroom. If it is left uncontrolled, dis-
ease can totally destroy a crop in 2-3 weeks
(Fletcher et al. 1986).
Whitish mycelial growth is initially no-
ticed on the casing soil which has a ten-
dency to turn greyish yellow. If infection
takes place in an early stage, typical onion
shaped mushrooms are produced. Some-
times they appear as small- undifferenti-
ated masses of tissue up to 2cm in diame-
ter. When affected at later stage, crooked
and deformed mushrooms with distorted
stipes
The major source for infection is casing
soil. Thus proper sterilization of casing
mixture is necessary for this disease man-
agement. The disease incidence can be re-
duced by reducing the temperature of
mushroom house along with proper ventila-
tion. Symptomatic area are advised to dis-
pose as soon as observed.
Table 8.1 Major disease of mushroom and theirtion
symptoms
occurs, we should check the casing

Disease Causal organism Symptom

Cobweb, mildew
Calves brains/ false truffle
Damping off
Wet bubble / white mould
Brown plaster mould
White plaster mould
Green mould
Dry bubble / brown spot
Bacterial blotch
White to pink, cobweb-like, fluffy
Dactylium spp.
mould
A competing fungus which produces
Diehlomyces spp.
brain-shaped fruiting bodies
Fusarium spp. Mushrooms wither
Mycogone spp. Dense white growth on gills
Brown plaster-like patches on
Papulaspora spp.
casing
Scopulariopsis spp. White plaster-like patches on casing
Dark green mould patches on
Trichoderma spp. casing spreading to lesions on
stems
Brown irregular pitted areas on
Verticillium spp. stems and caps. Distortion and
splitting
Blotch of irregular sizes can be seen
Pseudomonas tolaasii on the pileus. these bacterial
diseases are transmitted by mites

soil and soil drift on the mushroom bed.

Locally infected area can be removed with
11) GREEN MOULD
rectified sprit or 2% carbendazim solution.
The attack of green mold Trichoderma spp
In majority of case the contamination
is common in the mushroom house where
comes from the compost or casing soil
sanitation is not maintained properly.
thus maintaining the hygiene of the mush-
These pathogen may enter the mushroom
room house is prime factor for managing
with spawn, casing soil, water or drift of
those diseases. Special attention should be
soil particle. On compost bed the pets
paid for preparation of compost and must
fungi parasitizes the mushroom and soon
be sterilized properly.
the growth of mushroom mycellium is
overtaken by growth of green pathogenic Mushroom can be attacked by viral disease
fungal mass. A number of species of Tricho- which induces die back, elongation and dis-
derma including T. viride, T. koningii, T. hama- tortion like symptoms. Some of viral dis-
tum, T. harzianum, T. atroviride, T. pseudokon- ease attack latently and reducing the pro-
ingii, T. logibrachiatum are involved in this ductivity with out any noticeable symp-
disease development. toms. Spawn is the major source of viral
contamination thus such source must be
Proper hygiene is the prime factor to re-
checked for effective disease management
duce the attack of green mold. If the infec-
45
Occassionally, on poor compost weed
fungi like inky cap (Coprinus) may form.
These weed fungi should be removed right
after it is seen in mushroom bag/bed. Im-
proper composting and improper steriliza-
tion may cause such problem. The proper
sterilization with effective composting
may help to eliminate this problem
Insect pest of mushroom
Major insect pest of mushroom are listed
in following table:
formed mushroom are formed which is
due to the impact of burning coal and oils.
in such condition, effective ventilation
may help to eliminate the problem. The in-
crease CO2 level in mushroom house hin-
ders the development of pin head and rudi-
mentary mushrooms get formed. Acciden-
tal failure of fruiting body formation has
been observed on deficiency of light in oys-
ter mushroom. The degraded spawn also
may result in failure of mushroom forma-
tion.

Disorders of mushrooms
Table 8.2 Pests of mushroom

Pest Scientific name Loss type

Consumes the mycelium
Sciarids Lycoriella spp. thus results in loss of
fruiting body
Consumes the mycelium
Phorids Megaselia spp. thus results in loss of
fruiting body
Consumes the mycelium
Mites Tarsonemus spp. thus results in loss of
fruiting body
Consumes the mycelium
Apphelencoids
Nematodes thus results in loss of
composticola
fruiting body

Sometime inability to maintain the envi-

ronmental optima causes failure of fruiting
in mushroom. The gaseous composition of
its surrounding may affect the shape of
mushroom and its growth. In the site
where there is smoke, morchelloid and de-

46
9
a) Preparation of media

At the very first stage of spawn produc-

tion, mycelium of mushroom is cultured in
vitro on proper media. A number of media
are available for the growth of mycelium of
mushroom. However, Potato dextrose agar
Laborator y tech- (PDA) is the most widely used media in
mushroom laboratories.
niques PDA medium:

Peeled potato piece: 200 gm

Dextrose$$ $ : 20 gm
Pr o d u c t i o n o f s p a w n n e e d s a w e l l
Agar$ $ $ : 15 gm
equipped laboratory with the facility of
working in sterile condition. In addition a Distilled water : 1000ml
good arrangement for culture preserva-
Pieces of peeled potato (200gm) are boiled
tion, incubation and microscopic observa-
for 10-15minute in half liter of water. 15 gm
tion is necessary for successful spawn pro-
of agar is boiled in another half liter of wa-
duction. Lab instruments like autoclave,
ter. Then two solutions are mixed together
hot air oven, pH meter, microscope, BOD
. 20 gram of dextrose is also added to the
incubator, refrigerator, laminar flow are
mixture. Finally the pH of the mixture is
must for establishment of lab. The lab tech-
adjusted to 5.5-6.0 by addition of 1N HCl
niques related to spawn production can be
or KOH. Then the mixture is kept in a rea-
best studied under following headings:
gent bottle. The mixture is autoclaved for
a) Preparation of media sterilization and allowed to cool to 40*C.

b) Isolation of mushroom For preparation PDA plates, around 15 ml

of autoclaved suspension is transferred
c) Preparation of pure culture and mother
aseptically to a sterile petridishes. These
culture
petridishes are allowed to solidify under
d) Maintenance of culture laminar flow for 15 minutes. After solidifica-
e) Production of spawn tion, petridishes are covered with their
lead (sterile) and stored until its use. On
47
proper management, the prepared petri- Malt extract agar:
plates are useful till a month. However,
Malt extract$ : 20gm
careful examination is necessary for possi-
ble contamination before the use of stored Agar$ $ : 15gm
PDA plates.
Distilled water: 1 liter
Similarly, for preparation of agar slants,
around 5 ml of autoclaved suspension
(above explained) is pored in sterile test- Malt yeast extract agar:
tubes covered with sterile cotton plugs. Malt extract$ : 15gm
Then tubes are allowed to rest in slanting
position until the solidification. Now the Yeast extract $:3 gm
agar slants are ready. These slants can be Agar$ $ : 20gm
used till a month if stored in good condi-
Distilled water: 1 liter
tion.

Beside the PDA a number of media formu-

lation are available. Some time these me- b)Isolation of mushroom
dia may be necessary for specific purposes.
Isolation refers to the act of bringing fun-
Some other commonly used media are:
gal mycelium under laboratory culture.
Rice meal agar: Fresh mushroom from natural habitat and
even from market can be used as source
Rice meal$ : 100gm
material for isolation. The isolation can be
Dextrose$$ : 10gm done with either of these two methods:
Agar$ $ : 20gm i) Tissue culture:
Distilled water: 1 liter Since the mushroom (fruiting body) repre-
Corn meal agar: sents false tissue consisting interwoven
mass of hyphae, ideally any segment of
Corn meal$ : 100gm mushroom can be used for isolation pur-
Dextrose$$ : 10gm pose. However, surface sterilization is nec-
essary to avoid the possible contamination
Agar$ $ : 20gm
in the process. Tissue from pileus is com-
Distilled water: 1 liter monly used in mushroom tissue culture

48
and being a vegetative mode of propaga- c) Preparation of pure culture and mother
tion, it shows consistency on its perform- culture
ance thus is a widely used technique.
d) Maintenance of culture and strain
At first fresh mushroom is surface steril-
A spawn production laboratory should be
ized with a suitable agent (like 0.5% so-
able to preserve, propagate and test the de-
dium hypochloride). Then the pileus is
sirability of spawn. Thus a pure culture con-
teared off exposing the center. a small seg-
taining originality is always necessary for
ment from the center is picked with a ster-
laboratory. The careless continuous culture
ile forceps and aseptically transferred to
and subcultures of a strain may result in de-
the center of isolation plate or agar slant
terioration in the quality of strain hence
(previously discussed). Then these plates
the quality of spawn thus maintenance of
or slants are labelled and incubated in dark
strain is the prime concern in spawn pro-
condition inside BOD incubator. Tempera-
ducing laboratory. A productive strain of
ture is maintained according to the mush-
mushroom can be maintained by adopting
room species being isolated
following:

Storing culture at optimum condition

ii) Spore culture:
Avoiding the alternate heating and cooling
Mushroom spores are other possible cycles to the pure culture
source material for isolation purposes.
Timely renovation of culture with check-
However being sexual mode of reproduc-
ing the growth characteristics of myce-
tion, spores generates mycelium which
lium. production of fluffy mycelium may
shows variation in performance. Some-
be the sign of deterioration
time, the same variation is the opportu-
nity for developing new lines. Frequent production trials are necessary
the determine the consistency in produc-
For isolation purpose spores collected
tion performance of the strain.
from healthy and robust mushrooms are
preferably sterilized with formalin and cul-
tured on PDA plates. Serial dilution may
For long term storage of mushroom cul-
be helpful for reducing the crowd of
tures we can employ techniques like peri-
spores growing together.
odic transfer, preserving mycelium in liq-

49
 uid paraffin, freeze drying and cryogenic
freezing.
c) Production of spawn:
Spawn is the mycelium gown in a conven-
ient substrate for propagation purpose of
mushroom. It is comparable with the vege-
tative propagule of higher plant. Quality of
spawn greatly determines the productivity
of the mushroom. Thus the production of
quality compost demands highly technical
skills. In the initial days of mushroom do-
mestication, horse dung beds with living
mushroom mycelium was used to be called
as spawn. At that time, the technology was
poorly developed and a number of improve-
ment has been made in spawn production.
The type of mushroom can be classified as
follows:
i) Virgin Spawn: Fresh and actively growing
mycelium of mushroom is har vested
from its natural habitat and used as
spawn.
ii) Flake spawn. Compost beds are pre-
pared and inoculated with mycelium of
mushroom. After effective coverage by
mycelium, the bed is collected dried and
used as spawn.
iii) Brick spawn: Bricks are prepared using
horse dung and loamy soil then a hole is
made in the center when the brick be-
50
comes half dry. Then piece of old spawn
is inserted in the hole of brick and incu-
bated until the proper growth of myce-
lium. Then these bricks are used as
spawn.
Those spawn types were commonly used
in earlier days of mushroom cultivation.
With the high risk of contamination, these
spawn types are being outdated and a num-
ber of alternative are being suggest. The ba-
sic of any type of spawn production is
same with preparing substrate, inoculating
substrate with old culture and incubating
them in proper condition. Care should be
taken in every steps of spawn production
to avoid the possible contamination. O
number of substrate can be used for prepa-
ration of spawn. On the basis of the sub-
strate used, they can be named differently
as grain spawn, straw spawn, cotton waste
spawn, perlite spawn etc.
iv) Grain spawn:
Spawn prepared on cereal grains as sub-
strate are called grain spawn. Grains of sor-
ghum, wheat, rye, bajra etc can be used as
substrate. These substrate are boiled with
equal volume of water until the the water
dries out. The grain should be soft but not
spitted. Then calcium carbonate and gyp-
sum is mixed well. Then, the grain mixture
is filled in heat resistant poly bags or in
bottles, plugged and double autoclaved at
15 lb. pressure for 30 minuted on two con- ployed for perlite spawn preparation is
secutive days. the gypsum avoids the sticki- similar to grain spawn production. The
ness of the substrate while the calcium car- composition of substrate for perlite spawn
bonate maintain the pH to optimum level. production is given below:

Composition of perlite spawn

Soon after cooling of the substrate, bags or Perlite : 3 kg

bottles are moved to a sterile laminar flow
Wheat bran: 200 g
and inoculated with mother culture. Main-
taining aseptic condition is primary con- Calcium carbonate: 50 g
cern and care should be taken at every
Freshly produced high quality spawn
step of spawn production. Then the inocu-
should be selected for mushroom cultiva-
lated substrate is incubated at dark condi-
tion. The quality of spawn is determined
tion at 25*C for 3 weeks. Midterm observa-
by its freshness and state of any other con-
tion may be necessary to remove contami-
tamination. In addition, it must be true to
nation and shaking the spawn bag/bottle
type to the original intended strain and the
to facilitate the proper growth.
mycelium cover must be uniform.
Composition of grain spawn

Grain : 1 kg

Gypsum: 12 g

Calcium carbonate: 3 g

(According to the grain used, the amount

of gypsum and calcium carbonate can be
varied to maintain the pH of final prepara-
tion to 6.5-6.7)

v)Perlite spawn

In some case, grains are replaced with per-

lite and supplementation of wheat bran.
Use of perlite as substrate provides higher
storability of spawn. The method em-

51
 ton wastes. The Mushroom Journal (21):
References 348-353.

Biswas, S., Datta M and Ngachan, S.V.,
2012. Mushrooms- A manual for cultiva-
tion. Asoke K. Ghosh, New Delhi, p.20
Chang S. T., 1965. Cultivation of the straw
mushroom in S. E. China. World Crops
(27:) 47-49.
Wasser S. P. and A.L. Weis., 1999. Medici-
nal properties of substances occurring in
higher basidomycetes mushrooms: current
perspectives. International Journal of Me-
dicinal Mushroom (1), 31-62.

Chang S. T., 1974. Production of the straw

mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) from cot

Chang, S. T. and Miles, P. G., 1992. Mush-

room bology- a new discipline. The My-
cologist 6, 64-65.

Crisan, E. V. and A. Sands., 1978. Nutri-

tional value. In “The Biology and Cultiva-
tion of Edible Mushrooms” edited to S. T.
Chang and W. A. Hayes . Academic Press,
New York.

FAO. 2004. Wild Edible Fungi: A Global

Overview of Their Use and Importance to
People. NonWood Forest Products 17.
Rome.

Van Soest P.J., 1994: Nutritional Ecology of

the Ruminant. Cornell University, USA.
476 pp.

Wang Y. and I. R. Hall., 2004. Edible Ecto-

mycorrhizal Mushrooms: Challenges and
Achievements. Canadian Journal of Botany
82(8): 1063-1073.

52
 Preface
Agriculture is a single largest sector of em-
ployment for Nepalese people. It employs
approximately 60% of the economically ac-
tive population of the country, where it
contributes to only 33% of the Gross Do-
mestic Product, signifying a high level of
disguised unemployment in this sector.
The lack of employment opportunities in
industrial and commercial sectors placed
people to be engaged in agriculture. The
result is the excessively low family income,
which immersed them into the vicious cy-
cle of poverty and leads to deplorable stan-
dard of living. The national statistics
strongly support this phenomenon show-
ing an average per-capita income of 490
USD, with much of income going to lim-
ited hands.
The seasonal nature of labor demand in ag-
riculture leads to unemployment of a large
workforce during off-season. Almost 2 mil-
lion youth are in overseas nations seeking
for Jobs. The best solution for these prob-
lems is to generate employment opportuni-
ties at the community level while utilizing
local resources. There are numerous op-
tions to generate employment at the local
level. By providing technical skills, it is pos-
sible to transform the local subsistent type
53
of agriculture to the source of livelihood.
Various solutions as off season vegetable
production, mushroom production, cash
crop production and processing among oth-
ers, can be practiced to generate employ-
ment and income at the local level. Among
them mushroom cultivation is a viable op-
tion and can be initiated with nominal ini-
tial investment.
This handbook of mushroom and its culti-
vation covers all the basics and advance de-
tail about spawn production and mush-
room cultivation technologies. Beside that,
it describes about the biology of mush-
room with its food value. Here I expect
this book may assist students, researchers
as well as farmers and individuals working
in concerned sectors for working in mush-
room cultivation.
$$ $ $ Ram Kumar shrestha
Table of content
Preface $ $ $ 1

Chapter I

Introduction ........10

mduo

Book: Mushroom and its cultivation

Cited as: Shrestha, R. K., 2015. In: Mush-

room and its cultivation. Public printers.
Besisahar, Lamjung, p-52

Author: Ram Kumar Shrestha

Publication Date: February, 2015

ISBN: 978-9937-0-0198-4

COPYRIGHT@. Publisher

Printed by: Public printers. Besisahar, Lam-

jung, Phone: 9846180764

All rights reserved to the author and No

part of this book can be copied and distrib-
uted without the permission from the
auther

54
Author:

Ram Kumar shrestha, Assistant Professor

of Plant Pathology, Institute of Agriculture
and Animal Science. He has completed
Masters in Plant pathology from the De-
p a r t m e n t o f A g r o e co l o g y a n d P l a n t
Health, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He has special interest and experience in
the sector of Mushroom cultivation and
Molecular mechanisms of host pathogen
interactions and plant defense mecha-
nisms.

56