OYSTER MUSHROOM PRODUCTION

SEASON AND VARIETIES
·    Throughout the year
·    Cultivation is indoor and it requires mushroom house
·    White oyster (Co-1) and Grey Oyster (M-2) are suitable for Tamil Nadu
MUSHROOM HOUSE
·    A thatched Shed of 16 sq.m. is required. Divide the shed into spawn running and cropping rooms
·    Spawn running room: maintain 25-300C, provide ventilation, no light is required
·    Cropping room: Maintain 23-250C, RH above 75-80% with moderate light and aeration.
(Digital Thermometers and Humidity meters are available in the market)
SPAWN (MUSHROOM SEEDING)
·    Suitable substrate: Jowar/Cholam/Sorghum, Maize, Wheat grains
·    Preparation of spawn: half cook the grains, air dry, mix with Calcium carbonate powder at 2% level, fill the grains in empty glucose drip bottles, plug with cotton and sterilize in cooker for 2 hours.
·    Put the pure culture of the fungus (Procured from agriculture departments/agrl. Universities) and incubate at room temperature for 15 days. Use 15-18 days old spawn for spawning.
PREPARATION OF MUSHROOM BED
·    Suitable substrate: Paddy/wheat straw, sugarcane baggasse, hulled maize cobs
·    Cooking of substrate: Cut into 5cm bits, soak in potable water for 5 hrs, boil water for one hour, drain the water, air dry to 65% moisture (no water drips when squeezed between hands)
·    Preparation of bags:
o    Use 60x30 cm polythene bags (both side open).
o    Tie one end of bag, put two holes of 1 cm dia in the middle.
o    Put handful of cooked straw in the bag to a height of 5 cm; sprinkle about 25 g of spawn.
o    Layer the straw to 25 cm height. Repeat the process to get four layers of spawn and 5 layers of straw.
o    Tie the mouth and arrange beds in tiers in the spawn running room.
o    After 15-20 days, cut and remove the polythene bag and transfer the beds to cropping room.
o    Keep the beds moist by periodical spraying with water.
HARVEST
·    Mushroom pin heads appear on 3rd day of opening of beds and mature in 3 days.
·    Harvest matured mushrooms daily or alternate days, before spraying water.
·    Second and third harvest can be obtained after scraping the surface of beds after first or second harvest.