Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Growing Mushrooms

The mushroom business in the Philippines is apparently a burgeoning business with enormous commercial potential in as much as it targets a basic need: food. There is also a claim, on the contrary, that its present cultivation in this country is limited, perhaps due to the limited local knowledge about its culture.

But at the heart of the Manila metropolis in Boni Avenue is a dynamic and bracing research center of Rizal Technological University that is taming and developing mushrooms in underground passageways. These channels are valued historically where they were used by World War II soldiers to transport themselves inconspicuously to and from adjoining towns from their attack or defense or simply to escape from enemy troops.

Finding the tunnels apposite for other purposes has given them modern-day worth. The tunnels are regarded to impact positively and directly to the local mushroom industry.

Cultured inside the adobe-made tunnels are edible mushrooms species that grow in semi-temperate areas like Pleurotus sp. (oyster or abalone mushrooms), Auricularia sp. (ear fungi), Agaricus bisporus (tropical white button mushrooms), Volvariela volvacea (rice straw or banana mushrooms), and Lentinus edodes (shiitake or brown or black Japanese mushrooms).

Moreover, the culture of medicinal mushrooms is gaining its popularity abroad. “That is why the research center is now starting to cultivate mushrooms which have therapeutic applications—like the Ganoderma lucidum—to parallel our innovation with those in foreign lands,” says Angelita Medalla, a university’s faculty researcher and mushroom specialist.

Mushroom growing can be made double in a cooperative where division of labor can be resourcefully practiced.

The Biology

Mushrooms are fungi characterized by the presence of gills under the umbrella-shaped cap called pileus. Some have the presence of rings; others have none. Some grow in mass or in clusters; others develop in singles or in pairs. Others thrive well on cool weather, some in warm places. Like plants, mushrooms have seeds responsible for propagating the species. They produce spores like all fungi. These spores are very diminutive and microscopic that they disperse and disseminate through the air with the wind. When they happen to fall on a suitable agricultural waste, these spores germinate and develop into mycelium. If the conditions are favorable, it continues to grow, ramify and develop into mushrooms.

Why Grow Mushrooms?

Medalla stresses that edible mushrooms are good sources of high-quality protein. “They can be produced with greater biological efficiency and have an important role in elevating the diet of people enduring from protein deficiency,” she says, adding that they can represent a source of high-value metabolites like anti-tumor or cancer agents.

There is also a reason that one of the most cost-effectively practical processes for biocon-version of agricultural and industrial lingo cellulosic wastes is the cultivation of edible mushroom. “This is extremely important in rural areas where there are available large quantities of agricultural wastes ideally suited for growing different types of edible mushrooms,” Medalla exemplifies.

Furthermore, the substrate (or agricultural waste) residues that are left after harvesting mushrooms can be converted into feedstock to ruminants and used as soil conditioners. Medalla articulates they can help increase the income in the rural and urban areas, improving the social status of unemployed people.

Economics of Cultivation

Mushroom cultivation is an income-generating activity that can be done both in rural and urban areas. Mushrooms can be grown on commercial or small scale using either highly urbane equipment or low-cost materials and agricultural wastes.

The choice of species and technology, according to Medalla, will depend on the conditions prevailing in the place where one prefers to grow the mushrooms, the availability of the substrate to be used and the availability and amount of capital.

Medalla suggests that mushroom growing can be made doable in a cooperative where division of labor can be adroitly practiced. “There is a group that can be engaged in spawn production, substrate preparation, planting or inoculation, fruiting, harvesting, processing and marketing aspects,” she says.

Mushroom production is a complicated business. It involves a number of complicated steps and operations like the pure culture preparation (the selection of the acceptable fruiting culture of the mushroom); the planting material preparation; the substrate preparation where mushrooms will be grown; the actual planting or the inoculation of the substrate; and the harvesting, processing and marketing.

The Technology

Each operation, according to Medalla, consists of many sequential steps that are crucial and important if success is to be achieved. Despite the electricity fluctuation in the university when MARID visited the university for two days, she shared how mushroom technology functions in their laboratory and underground passageways:

A. Propagation of pure culture

During the preparation of the culture media, peel and weigh the 200 grams of fresh, hale and hearty potatoes. Dice these potatoes to about two-centimeter cubes. Boil one-liter distilled water and add these diced potatoes. Let them simmer for ten minutes or until they are soft enough to be eaten. Strain off these diced potato through cheesecloth, and restore the volume of the potato decoction (broth) to one liter by simply adding distilled water. Bring the potato decoction to boil, and add 20 grams of agar. Stir the mixture until the agar dissolves. Add 20 grams of dextrose powder and stir until it also dissolves.

Pour and distribute 40 to 50 milliliters of the mixture into empty bottles. Plug the mouth of the bottles with cotton, cover with paper, and tie with rubber band. Sterilize them in pressure cooker at 15 pounds for 15 to 20 minutes, and allow the pressure to drop down to zero pounds per square inch. Take out the sterilized culture media, and slant the culture media bottles.

Then isolate the pure culture using the tissue culture. This method is done through selecting a young and healthy mushroom that is disinfected with 70 percent alcohol by rubbing a cotton swab. With a sterilized scalpel, cut approximately one-centimeter cube of the tissue and plant on the slanted agar with the use of sterilized forceps or scalpel. Incubate at room temperature for ten to 14 days or until the media is fully impregnated with the mycelia.

B. Production of the spawn

Wash thoroughly the grains in tap water. Transfer in clean casserole, and add water till one inch above the level of grains. Boil until the grains are about to burst. Cool the grains by spreading in a nylon cloth or line screen and allow the water to drain off leaving the grains just damp (65 to 70 percent moisture). Distribute grains equally in bottles, plug with cotton and cover them with paper or foil, and support them with rubber band. Sterilize at 15 pounds for an hour. Cool the bottles at room temperature; aseptically inoculate with young and vigorous culture of the mushroom mold. Incubate at room temperature until the grains are fully impregnated with the mushroom molds.

C. Production of the fruiting bags (growing method)

At the preparation of the composted sawdust medium, mix thoroughly the composted sawdust medium composed of 78 percent sawdust, 20 percent class A rice bran, one percent calcium carbonate or lime and a percent of washed sugar. Add tap water until the mixture attains 65 to 70 percent moisture, which is determined by pressing a handful of mixture in the hand and no water should run off in between fingers and the materials should stay in form after releasing the pressure.

Pile the substrate or mixture in a pyramidal form. Cover with plastic sheet for a period of five days with turning every after two days, repiling and returning the plastic cover again. On the fifth day or after the second turning, aerate the piled materials by spreading thinly in a shaded area to remove the toxic gases that may have been produced during the period of composting. After the acidic smell has gone, check and adjust the moisture content making sure that it is 65 to 70 percent.

Pack the substrate in not-so-loose-or-not-so-compact bag. Collect the upper part of the
bag and pass it through a plastic ring, and pull the plastic ring down thus making the mouth of the bag. Plug each bag with cotton, cover it with paper, and tie with rubber band. Sterilize 15 pounds for an hour and a half, or the bags may be subjected to steaming process. The period of steaming depends on the load of the container.

To propagate the mushrooms, transfer the sterilized and cooled bags inside the inoculation room, which has been previously disinfected. Aseptically inoculate each bag with the mother spawn. Transfer the spawned bags in the incubation house, and incubate at 25 to 28 degrees Celcius for a month or until fully impregnated with the mushroom mold.

Once the bags are fully ramified, allow them to undergo maturation period by extending incubation by another month. The matured bags are then ready to open. Open the bags carefully by cutting the plastic below the neck, and water them abundantly but carefully. The floor and the walls of the house should also be watered.

On the third day, pinheads or primordial will develop. In this case, do not water the bags but the walls and the floor. Harvest period is expected on the fourth and the fifth day and harvesting goes for two to three days. After fruiting, the bags should rest for five to seven days. During rest period, monitor the temperature (25 to 28 degrees Celcius), relative humidity (85 to 90 percent) and moisture (65 to 70 percent). After each rest period, normal flushing or fruiting will follow and the cycle is repeated. The complete fruiting cycle lasts for two to three months.


The culture of mushroom is gaining popularity in the Philippines. Mushroom is a delicacy and is really accepted as vegetable. Its present cultivation in this country is limited, perhaps due to insufficiency of planting materials and the limited local knowledge about its culture.

Mushroom growing requires little space and time and farmers can make use of their rice straws following harvesting. Mushroom can be grown the whole year round provided a good storage of rice straw is prepared.

This article illustrates the fundamental techniques involved in the culture of banana or rice straw type of mushroom, Volvariolla volvacoa. The vegetable and Legume Crops Section of the Bureau of Plant Industry is now producing mushroom spawn in abundance.

Materials and Methods - I

Dry rice straws and banana leaves are the most common types of bleeding materials. However, other materials like cotton wastes, jute sacks, corn stalks, water hyacinth, sugar baggasse and abaca waste materials may also be used for bedding materials.

Sufficient water supply and soaking tank or any similar container are used. Plastic sheet of gauge No.6, empty cement bags and sacks are used to cover the beds.

Procedures

  1. Gather long, clean and well dried rice straws and banana leaves, preferably those that are still standing in the field. Avoid using old and contaminated bedding materials.
  2. Bundle the bedding materials 6-8 inches in diameter. If rice straws are used, arrange butt ends together.
  3. Cut the bundle materials 1.5 to 2 ft. long.
  4. Soak the bundled materials in water for at least 3 hours but not more than 10 hours until enough moisture is absorbed by the materials.
  5. Foundation as support for the bed.
  6. Set the soaked-bundled materials, closely knit the together, evenly and compactly.
  7. Water the bed well with the urea or ammonium sulfate at rate of 1-2 tbsp. per gallon of water. Add sugar at the rate of 33 grams per gallon of water to improve the yield of mushrooms.
  8. Press the layer to level of surface. Stop watering when the water starts to drip off the bed.
  9. Insert thumb-size prawns around the bed, four (4) inches from along the side and four (4) inches apart from each other. Never plant spawn at the middle of the bed.
  10. Set the second layer of straw on the top of the first layer. Put the butt ends together in two opposite direction. Water and press down. Follow the same procedure until a six-layer bed is attained.
  11. Cover the entire bed with plastic sheet gauges No. 6 or cement bags or sacks for seven days after which it is removed.

Harvesting

The growth of mushrooms on the bed come in flushes. With adequate maintenance and care, the first flush usually comes and flushes from 13 to 15 days following seeding. When a flush is on watering must be avoided. Watering is resumed when the flush is over. Harvesting is done in the following manner:

  1. Harvest the whole mushroom including the stump. Don?t leave any stump in the bed as this would rot and in rotting the adjacent mushroom may be affected.
  2. As much as possible care must be taken not to disturb the small buttons.
  3. Mushrooms in the button stage of growth are more succulent, hence they are better preferred than the fully opened ones.
  4. Harvested mushroom may be placed in trays or in kaings.

Care in the Mushroom Bed

  1. When the bed is made, it may be well to cover it with plastic sheet, gunny sack or any suitable materials to protect it from the drying effect of the wind and to keep it humid.
  2. After the removal of the plastic sheet don?t water the bed as the bed is still wet.
  3. Watering should be done only in amounts, which would keep the surface moist and its environs humid.
  4. Watering may be done using a sprinkler, passing same over the bed and along the sides. Avoid soaking the bed as this condition is equally harmful to the proper development of the mushrooms as insufficient watering.
  5. When the mushroom buttons start to form, water must be stopped until the flush is over.
  6. Resume watering when the flush is over to coax another flush to come.

Materials and Methods - II

  • hoe for tilling the soil
  • string
  • bamboo or wooden stand or bench
  • rice straw
  • urea fertilizer: 1-½tsp./gallon water
  • newspaper for wetting

Procedure

  1. Till an area about 4 meters long, one-half meter wide and 15 cm deep.
  2. Dig a canal around this, about 30 cm wide and 15 cm deep.
  3. Dry the straw very well, tie in bundles about 8 cm thick.
  4. Cut the bundles of straw in same lengths, evenly.
  5. Soak the bundles of straw in water for four hours.
  6. Put the bamboo bench over the tilled soil. Spread the bundles of straw on the bench, alternately arranging them in the first layer, all heads to the left in the next layer, all heads to the right, etc. up to the fourth layer.
  7. Crumple the newspaper and soak in the four liters water with 3 gms urea (3 gms urea or 1-1/2 tsp).
  8. On thumb sized pieces of newspaper, plant the mycelium (mushroom seeds). About three bottles of mycelium will be consumed for every 4 meters bed with six layers.
  9. Plant the wet paper with mycelium 5 cm deep into the layers of straw about 5-8 cm away from the edge and 10 cm from each other.
  10. After 5-7 days, cover the top of the pile with a clear plastic sheet like a roof resting on the bamboo, to maintain the 40%-50% heat that is just right for mushroom growth.
  11. Sprinkle water 5-6 days after this preparation. Fill the canals around with water to repel the insects and to maintain the right humidity. Stack up only until four layers during Summer and 6 layers during the rainy season.
  12. Do not water after this. On the 6 or 7 day if the weather is dry, water gently, using a sprinkler. Repeat if necessary.

Harvesting Mushrooms

  1. If the mushrooms are now umbrella-like, 10-14 days after planting, they may be harvested. These will wilt in 24 hours. The closed ones or button-like last up to 48 hours.
  2. Do not use scissors in harvesting because the parts that remain in the straw will rot. Carefully twist the lower stem with your fingers so as to get it whole.
  3. Spread the harvested mushroom on a basket for selection. Wash gently if these will be cooked soon.
  4. Let the straw bed rest for 7-10 days. In one area 4 meters and with six layers of straw, about seven kilos of buttons or 12½ kilos umbrella mushroom can be harvested.

Other Benefits of Mushroom1) Organic Matter - Mushrooms decompose the dead bodies of plants and animals - serve as cleaning function in the environment. They can be used to breakdown agricultural waste (rice, straw, sawdust, peanut shells, banana stalks, cotton and flax waste, fruit pericarps, corn cobs, sugar cane bagasse, etc). One good thing about mushroom culture is there is no wastage. After production, the mushroom bed can be converted into fertilizer.2) Medicine - Mushrooms have been known to possess the following actions:

  • Antibacterial
  • Antitumor
  • Hypocholesterolemic
  • Hallucinogens found in the mushrooms are helping psychiatrists in the treatment of mental illness

3) Income - minimum input (if you start from growing bags)
4) Adaptable to group involvement/division of labor
5) Environmentally sound
6) Can be integrated into existing agricultural system

Nutritional Value of Mushrooms

Many myths have been spread about mushrooms. One of the most inaccurate is that mushrooms have no nutritional value. To properly consider them for their nutritional benefits, they must be viewed from a dried weight perspective. And mushrooms give you maximum nutritional benefit only upon cooking. Mushrooms are relatively high in protein, averaging about 20% of their dried mass. Further they contribute a wide range of essential amino acids. Low in fat (between .3 and 2%) and high in fiber, mushrooms also provide several groups of vitamins, particularly thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, and ascorbic acid. Now that research is confirming that many of these species also stimulate the human immune systems, mushrooms are clearly becoming the gourmet health food of the 21st century.

Mushroom has been attracting attention of mankind since ancient times and use of mushroom, as food is as old as human civilization. It is very rich in protein, vitamins and minerals. Unfortunately. It is realized that mushrooms did not receive universal acceptance over the years since a number of naturally growing mushrooms are poisonous. Now the situation has been changed because the cultivated edible mushrooms are totally safe for human consumption.



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