Introduction
An oyster mushroom is a fungus it’s not a plant. Its lots of species can be found in almost part of a forest. It can also be cultivated in home by scientific way. And therefore the mushroom cultivation is a bit different than that of other vegetables. It is also termed as Pleurotus spp.
Commonly the oyster mushroom is cultivated in the medium of straw. It is calculated that the temperature should be around 20°C - 30°C and the humidity should be 80%. Some of the species of the oyster mushroom are pleurotus ostreatus, P. sajor caju, P. ostratus florida etc.
Materials Required:
Drum
Plastic container
Straw cutter
Gas
Polybag
Straw
Mushroom spawn
Procedure
For the production of oyster mushroom we should take a clean straw which is free of insects. Make sure that the straw is free from green fungus. Cut it with the cutter an make it the size of 2-3 inches. The pieces is then dissolved inside the water for around two hours and then washed properly, and dried for whole day.
The washed straw may have infinite number of insects so it is further subjected to steaming. It is further steamed for around 2 hours under a hot steam of 100°C. Now then it is packed in a huge plastic container for about 24 hours and cooled which is ready for keeping the spawns. It is now kept for a whole day to be cooled.
Once the straw is ready it is then packed in a ld plastic bags with the size of 16*26 (the most common size, the size may vary according to the users wish. Now in the plastic bags make a layer of a 4” with the sterilized straw followed by a single layer of mushroom spawn. After the bag is full it should be tied at the top of it and then create the small holes all around the plastic bags.
Now the balls thus made is kept in a dark room for about 3 days weeks the white fungus arises all around the balls and then we have to remove all the plastic from the balls an kept in ground but make sure that the opened balls do not touch the ground level i.e. above some materials like wood, brick etc. Now after a couple of days start spraying the balls with fresh water all around the air as well as in the balls to make the greater humidity. The temperature of the room should be 20°C and the humidity should be 80%.
After few days as you start spraying water in the balls you can find a small and tiny particles growing all over the balls. At this time there should be a huge amount of air inside the room and the amount of CO2 should be less than 0.6%. the balls grows and becomes a proper mushroom in about 4 days of time. You can also find another mushroom germinating from the same balls after 7-8 days after you take the mushrooms out of there. But make sure that you supply the water to the balls from time to time i.e. 3 times a day minimum. It is said that you can pick the mushroom for 3 lots from the same balls. It is estimated that from 1 kg of straw we can make a mushroom that weighs 500 gm. Also if you maintain a proper requirements you would be able to make 1 kg as well from the same weight of straw.
Things to be considered for the production of mushroom.
· The straw should not be green and make sure it is dry and well done.
· While steaming the straw, make sure all the the straw are properly cooked.
· While packing you should not tear the plastic bags.
· While spraying the water after you removed the plastic bags you should spray all around the air, not only on the balls.
· The water should be pure and clean, otherwise there is the probability of getting problems.
· The temperature must be between 20-30 °c.
· The room should be clean and bright.
· While harvesting, take the mushrooms out but make sure you do not pull the straw out of there.
· Put water only after you take the mushroom out of there.
· Always feed water 2-3 times a day.
Problems during the production of mushrooms.
· The problems of insects may arise from time to time, in this condition, make a solution with 1ml of insecticide in1 litre of water and spray all over. Make sure you do not spray while mushrooms are producing.
· During the storage of balls, some another species like Coprinus may germinate, throw them before they germinate.
· In spite of a white fungus, there may come some fungus with the colour black and green colour. Think that if it is in a small amount use the fungicide in order to cure it otherwise you can throw the ball it is in a greater amount. Do not let it to transform to other balls.
· In the absence of air the air the mushrooms may grow in improper shape i.e. the shape with longer stem etc. in such a case provide enough source of air.
Thus produced mushrooms can be sold in the markets can be sold in a high value which contains a lot of proteins and is very useful for our body parts.
