Oyster Mushroom Farming in India- a new opportunity for unemployed youth.

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:
• Use 60x30 cm polythene bags (both side open).
• Tie one end of bag, put two holes of 1 cm dia in the middle.
• Put handful of cooked straw in the bag to a height of 5 cm; sprinkle about 25 g of spawn.
• Layer the straw to 25 cm height. Repeat the process to get four layers of spawn and 5 layers of straw.
• Tie the mouth and arrange beds in tiers in the spawn running room.
• After 15-20 days, cut and remove the polythene bag and transfer the beds to cropping room.
• Keep the beds moist by periodical spraying with water.

HARVEST

• Mushroom pin heads appear on 3^rd 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.