Mushroom Cultivation

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

J.N. KAPOOR Division of Mycology and Plant Pathology Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi

ICAR

PUBLISHED BY DIRECTORATE OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN AGRICULTURE INDIAN COUNCILOFAGRICULTURAL RESEARCH KRISHI ANUSANDHAN BHAVAN, PUSA NEWDELHI-110012

Printed First Reprint Second Reprint Third Reprint Fourth Reprint

Project Director (DKMA)

June 1989 July 1999 December 2004 January 2010 March 2014

DR RAMESHWAR SINGH

Incharge. (English Editorial Unit)

DR ARUNAT KUMAR

Chief Production Officer Assistant Chief Technical Officer

DR V K BHARTI ASHOK SHASTRI

All Rights Reserved Š 2014, Indian Council of Agricultural Research New Delhi

ISBN:" 81-7164-031-X

Price : Rs 100

Published by Dr Rameshwar Singh, Project Director, Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Krishi Anusandhan Bhavan, Puss, New Delhi and Printed at M/s Chandu Press, D-97, Shakarpur, Delhi-110092

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

Poisonous and edible mushroom Advantages of mushroom cultivation History of mushroom cultivation Mushroom cultivation in India 5. Types suitable for cultivation

1.

2.

3.

4.

I. BUTTON MUSHROOM A. Biological nature

1. Morphology 2. Nomenclature 3. Spore germination and life cycle 4. Physiology 5. Nutritive value

1—6

1 2 2 5

6 7 53

7 8 9 11

14

B. Cultivation

1. Selection of strains 2. Maintenance of strains 3. Spawn 4. Compost 5. Preparing the beds 6. Spawning 7. Spawn growth 8. Casing 9. The crop 10. Processing

15 16 16 19 29

32 33 34 37 40

C. Diseases and pests of mushroom 1. Fungal diseases 2. Non-pathogenic diseases 3. Bacterial diseases 4. Viral diseases

43 44 45 45

vi

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

5. Insect pests 6. Nematodes 7. Disease-and-pest control by chemicals

46 47 47

D. Economical aspects 1. World production 2. Production costs 3. Viability of mushroom farms

48 48 51

4. Consumption pattern

52 52

5. Marketing II. PADDY-STRAW MUSHROOM

53-66

A. Biological nature 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Morphology

54

Nomenclature Life cycle Nutritional requirements Environmental requirements

55 56

57 58

B. Cultivation

1. Spawn production 2. Substrate 3. Time of growing 4. Cultivation methods 5. Preservation ID. OYSTER MUSHROOM

59 60

60 60 66 67-74

A. Biological nature 1.

2.

3.

4.

Morphology Life cycle Nutritional requirements Environmental requirements

69 69 70 70

B. Cultivation 1. Spawn production 2. Substrate

71 72

CONTENTS

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Growing site Spawning Filling The crop Harvesting

vii

72 72 73 74 74

IV. OTHER EDIBLE MUSHROOM

75—82

A. Cultivated mushrooms Agaricus bitorquis Flammulina velutipes Pholiota nameko Auricularia spp.

5. Lentinus edodes 6. Tremella fuciformis

1.

2.

3.

4.

75 76 76

77 78 79

B. Non-cultivated mushrooms 1. Morels 2. Phellorinia inquinans 3. Podaxis pistillaris.

V. FUTURE PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY

80 81

81 83—84 85

INTRODUCTION

MUSHROOMS are a group of fleshy macroscopic fungi, which until recently, as other fungi, were included in the Plant Kingdom because of a cell wall and spores. They are very unlike green plants because they lack chlorophyll and therefore depend on the preformed food for their nutrition. Now it has a general acceptance that fungi belong to a separate Kingdom coequal to the other Kingdoms of organisms such as Plant Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Protista and Monera.

The mushroom that lives on dead matter is called a saprophyte. Some mushrooms may be parasites, drawing their nutrition from living matter, and some facultative, able to live as saprophytes as well. There are still other mushrooms that exist only in symbiotic association with plants and are called mycorrhizic.

The terms mushroom and toadstool are often used loosely.

However the common view is, the umbrella-shaped fungi belonging to Basidiomycotina, which are edible be called mushrooms and the poisonous-type, toadstools.

In nature, mushrooms grow wild in every country from snowy mountains to sandy deserts on all types of soils, pastures, forests, cultivated fields or wastelands. They appear in all seasons, chiefly during the rainy weather, wherever organic matter or its decomposition products are available. There are more than 1,000 species of the edible mushrooms reported in literature. Purkayastha and Chandra (1976) have listed 139 species of the edible mushrooms in India but a perusal of literature shows that many more species can be added to this

number.

1. Poisonous and edible mushroom

A question often asked a mycologist is “How can one distinguish a poisonous mushroom?”. The fungi are actually mysterious objects for most people and therefore, perhaps, some litmus test is expected to distinguish good mushrooms from the bad ones. Simply eat the species you know and avoid all the others is the only answer to this enigmatic problem. Just as one

2

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

learns to identify different kinds of edible fruits and to avoid the unknown so can one learn to identify the several familiar species of mushrooms. Unrecognized species should not be eaten.

One should proceed cautiously when trying any species for the first time because there is a possibility of its allergic or toxic reaction. The genus Amanita contains many deadly species, and therefore any member of this genus must be avoided.

2. Advantages of mushroom cultivation Unlike those mushroom gathered from nature, their artifiÂŹ cial cultivation ensures that mushrooms sold are truly edible.

Dispelling prejudice, which for centuries has been associated with mushrooms, has helped to increase consumption; they are now regarded as useful foods in modem diets, complementing the staple diet. They are often prescribed by dieticians to counter obesity and other syndromes associated with presentday eating habits.

Plant residues such as straw, leaves, and also wastes from agriculture, forest and industry mostly remain unused. These have to be disposed off by burning or by some other wasteful method. However, by suitable treatment, these residues can be converted into substrates for the cultivation of mushrooms and the spent substrate can be utilized as manure. Another advantage in mushroom growing is that they are grown in rooms, for which the wasteland may be utilized. Being grown in vertical stacks, for mushrooms the yield per unit of the floor works out to be the highest as compared with any vegetable crop. Moreover, mushrooms come into production very rapidly thus making the mushroom-growing a profitable venÂŹ ture.

Some mushrooms like Pleurotus can breakdown straw and make it valuable as upgraded feed for animals (Kirk and Moor, 1972; Zadrazil, 1980).

3. History of mushroom cultivation The consumption of edible fungi as food and drugs is closely related to the history of mankind. Even the early men knew the special properties of mushrooms. The Aztecs used them as hallucinogens and for divination. They called them

INTRODUCTION

3

God’s flesh. According to the American philosopher Gordon Wasson, the intoxicant soma was nothing but fly-agaric (Amanita muscaria), a species of mushroom. Reference to the occurrence and utilization of mushrooms are found in classical religious writings of the Babylonians, Greeks and Romans.

According to the medical treatise of India, Sumhita of the Atreya Charak peiiod dating back to probably 3000 BC, mushroom were classified into the three categories (i) edible; (ii) nonedible or poisonous; and (Hi) medicinal (Pandey and Singh, 1978).

The oriental mushrooms, Lentinus edodes and Volvariella volvacea, have been cultivated for 2 000 years in China and Japan. Their cultivation technology, according to Singer (1961), must be a very ancient art. The method of cultivation of jew’s ear (Auricularia spp.) has been recorded in the ancient Chinese publication Liki about 300 BC and in Shib about 230 BC. The authentic records are available only for Agaricus bisporus (button mushroom), whose cultivation was introduced into Paris (France) around AD 700 by an unknown French horticulturist in the open. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, someone whose name is not recorded, evolved a method of treating horse manure and planting it with the spawn of wild mushroom. But the first published method of mushroom cultivation is by Tournefort, a Frenchman. This method is more or less similar to the one in practise in many countries.

Mushroom-growing as a garden crop has remained importtant in England and a few other European countries. Cultivation in greenhouses originated in Sweden around 1754, spreading to England and elsewhere in Europe. That mushrooms could grow without light, led to their cultivation inside the caves in France early in the nineteenth century.

Mushroom cultivation was introduced into the United States in the latter part of the nineteenth century. About 1890, greenhouse farmers in Pennsylvania started growing mushrooms in the unused spaces under the greenhouse benches. Soon after, many farmers began growing mushrooms in any idle space in the house, shed or cellar. By the turn of the century, special sheds were solely constructed for growing mushrooms. Standard mushroom houses were built in the USA in 1910 in which the

4

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

temperature, humidity and aeration were controlled throughout the year. With well-insulated walls and a false-ceiling, it was possible for the growers to manipulate ventilation and tempera¬

tures.

With the advance in biological sciences, consequent upon the development of microscope and the micro-biological methods, the cultivation of edible mushroom received the attention of the scientific community. Whereas a number of improvements in the growing technology were made by the farmers empirically, the most important contribution by the scientists was the preparation of pure-culture spawn, which boosted and stabilized the mushroom production. Though Costantin had developed a practical and dependable method of spore germination and spawn production in sterile conditions by 1890, his publications did not reveal practical details of the process. Therefore, it remained a trade secret till 1905, when Duggar published his studies of the method of preparation of tissue-culture spawn. Soon after, the pure-culture spawn was taken up by scientists for paddy-straw (tropical mushroom) and Japanese mushroom (Shiitake), in South-East Asia and Japan, which improved their yields considerably.

In the later years of the nineteenth century French growers had discovered that gypsum (hydrated calcium sulphate) prevented greasiness in compost which improves spawn run. The addition of gypsum to composts is now universally practised.

The scientists in advanced countries have evolved a selective and nutritive substrate for Agaricus bisporus by studying the microbiology, and physical and chemical changes during composting (Hayes, 1976; Smith, 1979; Fermor and Wood, 1979; Ferrnor, 1981). They have evaluated different methods of composting and found substitutes for horse-dung which till late was considered an essential component of compost (Stoller, et al.

1937; Sinden, 1946; Gerrits, 1974; Hayes, 1977; Baker and Baker, 1981). Sinden (1938, 1946) is credited with the development of synthetic composts which revolutionized the mushroom industry the world over. He patented the grain-spawn process in 1932- Lambert of the United States, Department of Agriculture laid down the foundation of modern mushroom technology, whereas Sinden (1946) and Tschierpe (1973) did useful work

INTRODUCTION

5

in composting and the ideal environment in which to grow mushrooms. The past 20 years have seen much mechanization in the technology of mushrooms and the research support has solved the problems facing the industry, and also analysed scientifically the different variables for obtaining higher yields.

4. Mushroom cultivation in India

Although the methods of cultivating edible mushrooms were known to people in the various countries, its cultivation remained obscure in this country till recently.

Bose (1921) was successful in culturing two agarics on sterilized dung. Su and Seth (1940) described the procedure for spawn production and cultivation of Volvariella. Thomas et al.

(1943) cultivated the paddy-straw mushroom at the College of Agriculture, Coimbatore. Thereafter many improvements and modifications in the growing method were worked out at several research centres in India (Asthana, 1947; Rath, 1961; Ramakrishnan et al., 1968; Gupta et al., 1970; Munjal, 1973; Purkayastha et al., 1980).

The prospects of growing the white button mushroom, a temperate mushroom in India, were first discussed by Padwick (1941). This generated much interest in its commercial cultivation.

Consequently, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the Government of Himachal Pradesh jointly started a scheme for the experimental cultivation of this mushroom at Solan in 1961 and subsequently strengthened it, by providing the services of international mushroom experts. The conversion of the Mushroom Research Project, Solan, into an enlarged ICAR Co-ordinated Mushroom Research Scheme with its main centre at Solan and the 3 subcentres at Ludhiana, New Delhi, and Bangalore gave a further fillip to mushroom research in India.

On termination, the scheme became the nucleus of the National Centre of Mushroom Research and Training at Solan, the present-day premier Institute of mushroom research in India.

Some agricultural universities Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana; Chandra Sekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur; Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar; and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore— are conducting research

—

6

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

on mushroom cultivation. This has led to an awakening among scientists in other institutions as well and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research has started a small unit at Srinagar.

The other mushroom which has succeeded and shown its commercial potential is Pleurotus sajor-caju. The technology for its cultivation was worked out at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (Jandaik and Kapoor, 1976).

As compared with other edible species of Pleurotus, this species exhibits a wider adaptability. Because of its fine characteristics, the mushroom is now being cultivated on a commercial scale in many countries.

5. Types suitable for cultivation At present 3 mushrooms are being cultivated in India.

These are : the white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), the paddy-straw mushroom ([Volvariella volvacea) and the oyster mushroom {Pleurotus sajor-caju). Of these, A. bisporus is the most popular and economically sound to grow and is extensively cultivated throughout the world. However, due to its low temperatuie requirement, its cultivation is restricted to the cool climatic areas and to the winter in the plains of Northern India. In summer, the tropical paddy-straw mushroom is suitable for growing in most parts of India. Even then it is less attractive commercially owing to very low yield per unit weight of the substrate and an extremely short shelf-life. But, as a kitchen-garden crop it is preferred because it is very delicious and nutritious.

Oyster mushroom can grow at moderate temperatures ranging from 22° to 28°C. Therefore it is suitable for most of the places in India. It is a familiar item in the menu of most hotels in Bangalore where it is being grown commercially.

In north India, the climatic conditions prevailing during different seasons can be exploited for growing mushrooms throughout the year. To this a year-wise production schedule is suggested : Mid -November to mid-March : Agaricus bisporus : Pleurotus sajor-caju February to mid-April Mid-June to mid-September : Volvariella volvacea September to November : Pleurotus sajor-caju

icmmnÿA Fig. 1.

|Cap

A popular strain of Agaricus bisporus

A

(pileus)

‘

A*

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Veil

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Stem (stipe)

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Broken veil

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Fig. 2. Morphology of Agaricus bisporus (sectional view)

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Fig. 4. Spore print of Agaricus bisporus

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Fig. 5. A germinating spore-forming mycelium

I. BUTTON MUSHROOM (AGARICUS BISPORUS) A. BIOLOGICAL NATURE

1. Morphology THE button mushroom derives its name from its shape when it is still quite young. However, the button stage is only a pasÂŹ sing stage in the development of the mushroom which becomes umbrella-like on maturity. This mushroom has a pleasing, distinct taste and aroma. The principal parts of a mushroom are illustrated diagrammatically (Figs 2,3).

Pileus j.

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Lamellae (gills) Veil (annulus)

m

Fig. 3.

-4â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Stipe 0 r-

Various parts of Agaricus bisporus

The fruiting body or the mushroom as it is called, consists of a stem (stipe), which supports an expanded, umbrella-shaped cap (pileus). On the underside of the pileus are the gills or lamellae, which in the young stage are enclosed by a membrane that extends from the margin of pileus to the stipe. This

8

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

membrane is known as partial veil and it usually tears around the margin of the pileus as the latter expands but remains attached to the stipe where it forms a ring (annulus). Other characters can be observed only through the microscope. (a)

Scientific description

(i) Stipe. Central, white, annulate, solid when young becoming hollow below the annulus, 30-120 mm X 10-15 mm, at the base often thicker, slightly tapering upwards. (ii) Pileus. Ordinarily readily separable from the stipe, 5-10 cm broad, white, cream or brown, almost smooth to finely scaly, dry; convex with flattened centre or becoming entirely flat; white when young, slowly becoming reddish on bruising or prolonged exposure, fleshy; lamellae free, crowded, narrow, pink at first turning dark brown with age; basidia invariably 2-spored; spore-print sepia to mummy-brown, spores 6-7.5 broadly ellipsoid; cheilocystidia broadly Hm x 4.5-5. 5 clavate, odour pleasant when fresh. (iii) Colony characters in pure culture. The circular colony on agar medium is the apical growth of hyphae and their repeated branching. Anastomosis between hyphae enable the exchange of their nuclei. Considerable variations exist between strains in gross colony morphology. Generally, the colonies fall into 2 broad groups (Kligman, 1943) “appressed”, a greyish-white colony with little aerial growth and “fluffy”, with extensive aerial growth giving the appearance of cotton-wool. The range of variation in colony form is of considerable importance in the process of spawn production.

2. Nomenclature This mushroom has appeared under a number of names in literature. Earlier books refer to the cultivated white mushroom as Psalliota campestris. The name is not accepted because of taxonomic reasons and is now considered a synonym of Agaricus campestris. Yet, later it was discovered that cultivated mushroom differs from Agaricus campestris in a number of characters the most significant of them being the 2-spored basidia. Lange (1926) described the 2-spored form as Psalliota hortensis Lev. but it was renamed Agaricus bisporus

—

BUTTON MUSHROOM

9

(Lange) Singer, by the International Botanical Congress at Paris in 1954. Presently, the taxonomists are of the opinion that the correct name is Agaricus brunnescens Peck, a name given much earlier than A. bisporus. However, the name A. bisporus is well established in literature, and mushroom research workers are reluctant to accept A. brunnescens.

Singer (1961) distinguished 3 varieties of this species: A. bisporus, the type variety with brown pileusthat corresponds to the ‘Brown’ variety, it is rarely cultivated; var. aveilaneus (Lange) Singer, with a pale-brown pileus that corresponds to the ‘Brown’ variety, in cultivation; and var. albidus (Lange) Singer, a white pileus when young which may turn cream-coloured on maturity, corresponds to white and cream-coloured varieties.

It is commonly accepted, however, all of the white strains now in cultivation were originally selected from natural colour mutations and by a continuous process of selection. A wide range of strains are now available with different growth characteristics.

3. Spore germination and life cycle

A mushroom reproduces by spores produced in enormous number on the 2 faces of the gills or the lamellae on the underside of the pileus. The spores are too small to be seen with a naked eye. They are purplish-brown to sepia when seen enmasse, or spore print as it is called. To obtain a spore print, cut off the stipe close to the pileus, lay the pileus on a piece of white paper with lamellae downwards, and leave it for several hours under a glass or beaker to protect it from air currents and to prevent it from drying up quickly (Fig. 4).

The knowledge of conditions favouring spore germination is basic for the establishment of mushroom culture. Spores germinate in distilled water but for further growth and development of hyphae, nutrients are required. The percentage of spore germination and those forming colonies is generally small. The germination percentage can be increased by treating the spores with a suitable sterilant, such as chloroform for 4 hr, and germinating them on malt-extract agar medium.

Single basidiospores ordinarily do not germinate but can be stimulated to germinate in the presence of actively growing

10

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

mycelium of Agaricus bisporus. Germination is best at temperatures ranging from 22° to 25°C. The germination can take place in a wide range of pH but the most favourable pH is neutral or slightly acidic, between 6 and 7. The germination is inhibited below pH 3 and above pH 9. It has been found that high C03 concentration (above 2% by volume) inhibits germination.

When a spore germinates it puts forth a germtube (a slender thread called hypha, (Fig. 5). This thread grows rapidly, develops cross-walls or septa and becomes many celled then branches repeatedly producing a mat of hyphae termed the mycelium (Fig. 6). This, the vegetative part of the fungus,

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Fig. 6. Life-cycle of Agaricus bisporus : a, Germtube; b, vegetative mycelium-61 septate hyphae; 6a secondary spores; 63 chlamydospores; c, fruiting-body initials— pins or primordia; d, young basidium; e, fusion of nuclei; /, mitosis of 4 haploid nuclei; 8, a pair of nuclei passes through the' sterigmata to the developing spores; h, a spore.

produces the fruiting body or mushroom. Each cell of the mycelium has two nuclei. The vegetative mycelium may

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