The document provides information about mushrooms, including their structure, identification, uses, and cultivation methods. It describes that mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi and discusses the key parts of mushrooms like the cap, gills, stem, and spores. It also summarizes techniques for cultivating common mushrooms like button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and paddy straw mushrooms indoors using controlled composting, spawning, casing, pinning, and harvesting steps.

1. MUSHROOMS
BY : DIVYA BHARDWAJ
MSc. (FMT)
SEMESTER 3RD
ROLL NO. 110077

2. MUSHROOM
 A mushroom, or toadstool, is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus,
typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source.
 The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button
mushroom, Agaricus bisporus ; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to
those fungi ( Phylum : Basidiomycota , Class : Agaricomycetes) that have a stem
(stipe), a cap (pileus), and gills (lamellae, sing. lamella) on the underside of the cap.
 "Mushroom" also describes a variety of other gilled fungi, with or without stems,
therefore the term is used to describe the fleshy fruiting bodies of some Ascomycota.
These gills produce microscopic spores that help the fungus spread across the
ground or its occupant surface.

3. Identification of mushrooms
 Identifying mushrooms requires a basic understanding of their
macroscopic structure. Most are Basidiomycetes and gilled. Their spores,
called basidiospores.
 The color of the powdery print, called a spore print, is used to help classify
mushrooms and can help to identify them. Spore print colors include
white (most common), brown, black, purple-brown, pink, yellow, and
creamy, but almost never blue, green, or red.
 The presence of juices upon breaking, bruising reactions, odours, tastes,
shades of color, habitat, habit, and season are all considered by both
amateur and professional mycologists.
 Tasting and smelling mushrooms carries its own hazards because of
poisons and allergens. Chemical tests are also used for some genera.

4. Structure of Mushrooms
 The mushroom is composed of an underground part
(mycelium) and an aboveground, often edible part that is also
the reproductive organ.
 Structure of mushroom consists of :
a) Spores
b) Stem
c) Gills
d) Mycelium
e) Hypha
f) Volva
g) Ring
h) Cap

6.  Spore:
Microscopic seeds acting as reproductive agents; they are usually
released into the air and fall on a substrate to produce a new
mushroom.
 Stem:
Axis supporting the mushroom’s cap.
 Gill:
Fertile spore-producing part of the mushroom, located under the
 Mycelium:
Tangle of hyphae created through spore germination, from which the
aboveground part of the mushroom develops.

7.  Hypha:
Microscopic filament, often white, that draws water and the
organic matter necessary for mushroom development.
 Volva:
Remnant of a membrane that completely covered the
immature mushroom and ruptured as the stem grew.
 Ring:
Membrane located under the cap and circling the stem;
remnant of a membrane that covered the gills of the
immature mushroom and ruptured as the cap grew.
 Cap:
Differently shaped and coloured upper part of the
that protects the gills.

8. Human Use
 EDIBLE MUSHROOM
- Mushrooms are used extensively in cooking, in many cuisines.
Though neither meat nor vegetable, mushrooms are known as
the "meat" of the vegetable world.
- Most mushrooms sold in supermarkets have been
commercially grown on mushroom farms.
- The most popular of these, Agaricus bisporus, is considered
safe for most people to eat because it is grown in controlled,
sterilized environments.
- Several varieties of A. bisporus are grown commercially,
including whites, crimini, and portobello.
- Other cultivated species available at many grocers include
Hericium erinaceus, shiitake,Pleurotus, and enoki.

9.  TOXIC MUSHROOM (NON-EDIBLE MUSHROOM)
- Many mushroom species produce secondary metabolites that
can be toxic, mind-altering, antibiotic, antiviral, or bioluminescent.
- Although there are only a small number of deadly species,
others can cause particularly severe and unpleasant symptoms.
- One defence against consumption and premature destruction is
the evolution of chemicals that render the mushroom inedible,
either causing the consumer to vomit the meal, or to learn to
consumption altogether.
- In addition, due to the propensity of mushrooms to absorb
metals, including those that are radioactive

10. Fungi culture
 Fungi culture is the process of producing food, medicine, and
other products by the cultivation of mushrooms and other fungi.
A mushroom farm is in the business of growing fungi.
 Mushrooms are not plants, and require different conditions for
optimal growth. Plants develop through photosynthesis, a
process that converts atmospheric carbon dioxide into
carbohydrates, especially cellulose. While sunlight provides an
energy source for plants, mushrooms derive all of their energy
and growth materials from their growth medium, through
biochemical decomposition processes.
 Mushrooms grow well at relative humidity levels of around 95–
100%, and substrate moisture levels of 50 to 75%.

11.  Instead of seeds, mushrooms reproduce asexually through
spores. Spores can be contaminated with airborne
microorganisms, which will interfere with mushroom growth
and prevent a healthy crop.
 Mycelium, or actively growing mushroom culture, is placed on
a substrate—usually sterilized grains such as rye or millet—
and induced to grow into those grains. This is called
inoculation. Inoculated grains are referred to as spawn. Spores
are another inoculation option, but are less developed than
established mycelium. Since they are also contaminated easily,
they are only manipulated in laboratory conditions with a
laminar flow cabinet.

12. Techniques used for Mushroom Culture
 All mushroom growing techniques require the correct combination of humidity,
temperature, substrate (growth medium) and inoculum (spawn or starter culture).
 Wild harvests, outdoor log inoculation and indoor trays all provide these elements.
 (1) Outdoor Logs :
Mushrooms can be grown on logs placed outdoors in stacks or piles, as
has been done for hundreds of years.
Sterilization is not performed in this method.
Since production may be unpredictable and seasonal, less than 5% of
commercially sold mushrooms are produced this way.
Here, tree logs are inoculated with spawn, then allowed to grow as they
would in wild conditions.
Fruiting, or pinning, is triggered by seasonal changes, or by briefly
soaking the logs in cool water.
Shiitake and oyster mushrooms have traditionally been produced using
the outdoor log technique, although controlled techniques such as
indoor tray growing or artificial logs made of compressed substrate have
been substituted.

13.  (2) Indoor trays :
Indoor growing provides the ability to tightly regulate light,
temperature and humidity while excluding contaminants and
This allows consistent production, regulated by spawning cycles.
This is typically accomplished in windowless, purpose-built
buildings, for large scale commercial production.
Indoor tray growing is the most common commercial technique,
followed by containerized growing.
The tray technique provides the advantages of scalability and
harvesting.
Unlike wild harvests, indoor techniques provide tight control over
growing substrate composition and growing conditions. Indoor
harvests are much more predictable.

14.  According to Daniel Royse and Robert Beelman,
"[Indoor] Mushroom farming consists of six steps , these steps
identify what is needed to form a production system. The six
steps are :
 composting,
 fertilizing,
 spawning,
 casing,
 pinning, and
 cropping."

16. Phase 1: Composting
 The growing cycle of mushrooms starts with compost.
Compost preparation starts with horse manure.
The compost factories get the horse manure from large horse breeding
companies that pay the compost factories to collect the manure.
Straw, gypsum, chicken manure and water are added to the horse
manure.
The straw improves the structure, gypsum ensures the proper acidity
and the two manures are the nutrients.
The compost is produced in tunnels in order to prevent the smell from
becoming a nuisance.
As manure emits ammonia, compost factories purify the air with
ammonia wash to prevent the emission of gases.
The indoor fresh compost looks like earth from a forest. Dark brown,
full of trampled bits of straw.

17.  The compost is steaming, due to the composting process:
heat is generated which digests the components.
What’s left is a very fertile, nutritious source for mushrooms.
On one batch of compost, two to three flushes of mushrooms
can be grown.
A square metre of compost (which is equal to 90 kilos) yields
a maximum of 35 kilos of mushrooms.
After that it’s no longer lucrative to reuse the compost. The
leftover compost can still be used as a soil conditioner in
other agricultural companies.
 The largest producer of mushroom compost in Europe is
Walkro, with production facilities in Belgium, Germany and
the Netherlands.

18. Phase 2: Spawning
 In a tunnel, the indoor fresh compost is pasteurized at 57-60
degrees Celsius.
 This kills all possible bacteria.
 The compost stays in the tunnel to mature for six days, after which
the compost is mixed with spawn that will produce the
mushrooms: the mycelium.
 The compost is then moved to another tunnel where the
mycelium can spread through the compost.
 The mycelium grows quickly; after two weeks it has completely
permeated the compost, which means that is has reached the
point that it is ready for the growers.
 At this time the compost looks like light brown peat.

19.  Most mushroom growers do not produce their own spawn, as it is a very
sophisticated process.
 Specialized companies produce the spawn by inoculating grain with
spores.
 The grain is sterilized first to prevent infection and it’s kept moist, exactly
the way mushrooms like it.
 Ten kilo of spores (22 pounds) provides about five hundred kilos of
inoculated grain (1100 pounds).
 The grain is incubated in a bag for two weeks at 25 degrees Celsius (75
degrees Fahrenheit), then transferred to a refrigerator at 2 degrees Celsius
(35 degrees Fahrenheit) to harden it.
 In this way, the spawn gets a shelf life of 6 months without the mycelium
losing its vitality.

20. Phase 3: Casing
 The matured compost is spread onto long stainless steel boxes, the mushroom
beds.
 The beds are inside special dark rooms called cells.
 The temperature in the cells is kept nice and warm, at about 23 degrees Celsius.
 A layer of peat casing material is added on top of the compost to keep the
compost moist.
 Over a period of six days, 20 to 25 litres of water is sprinkled on each cell
because more moisture is needed.
 After this, the fungus has two days to grow through the covering layer of casing
soil.

21. Phase 4: Pinning
 Mushrooms only grow in the wild in autumn.
 However, they can be cultivated year round by recreating autumn conditions.
 Therefore, the temperature in the cell is gradually lowered from 23 to 17 degrees
Celsius over four days.
 The mushroom grower starts to lower the temperature once he sees that the
mycelium has grown to its full extent.
 The temperature shock is a sign for the mycelium to start sprouting the mushrooms.
 The same thing happens in nature. Mycelium grows well in mild autumn weather,
and after an October storm, the mushrooms will start appearing.
 The mycelium starts to form little buds, which will develop into mushrooms. Those
little white buds are called pins.
 In this phase, air temperature and humidity can influence growth. Low air
temperature and low humidity produce more buds, which yield smaller mushrooms.
Higher air temperature and humidity produce fewer but larger mushrooms.

22. Phase 5: Harvesting
 After this, the temperature is kept steady at 18 degrees Celsius.
 Mushrooms grow best at this temperature; they’ will grow 3 cm (1 inch) in a week,
which is the normal size for harvesting.
 In week 3 the first flush is harvested.
 Mushrooms destined for selling fresh are still harvested by hand; mushrooms
destined for preserving are being picked and sorted mechanically.
 Although hand-picking is a lot of work, it offers the best guarantee that the
mushrooms will be removed from the beds undamaged.
 On average, a picker can harvest between 18 and 30 kilos of mushrooms an hour.
 The mushrooms are picked from the beds with a rotating motion and sorted by
the pickers based on quality, size and weight.
 Nine days after the first flush, the second flush will be harvested. The second
flush often consists of larger, but fewer mushrooms than the first flush.

23.  After the second flush of mushrooms has been picked, the
cells need to be cleaned.
 First the cell is pasteurized with steam to kill any remaining
fungus to ensure that there is no transfer from cycle to cycle.
 During steam-cleaning, the temperature in the cells reaches 70 degrees
for eight hours.
 After steam-pasteurization, the compost is removed from the
beds.
 The empty cell is thoroughly cleaned one more time and then
it is ready to be filled again.

24. Cultivation of Paddy Straw Mushroom
 The paddy straw mushroom Volvariella valvacea grow on paddy straw
hence is known as PADDY STRAW MUSHROOM.
 It’s cultivation started in China in 18th century, in India it was cultivated
in Coimbatore.
 It grows at temperature 30-40 degree C on paddy straw.
 Other substrates which have been tested are :
sugarcane bagasse , cotton waste etc .
Paddy straw mushroom - Bed preparation and
cropping
The cultivation of paddy straw mushroom can be done in a thatched house and
also under the shade of a tree.
Fresh , disease free paddy straw is the ideal substrate .
Ten –fifteen kg paddy straw is necessary for preparing one bed.
In recent years, it is cultivated inside plastic film houses to maintain the
temperature of around 25 -35 ° C and relative humidity of 75-80 %.

25. Paddy Straw bundle method
Procedure
 Prepare a raised platform of about I m in length and 0.75 m in breadth with a deal wood flanks
and keep it over a support by arranging bricks on all four corners.
 The paddy straw is bundled into to weigh about kg each.
 Soak the straw bundles in water for 12-18 hr.
 Ten bundles are taken out and drain the excess water
 Place the bundles over the platform with their butt end on one side.
 Build the second layer by placing the butt end towards the other direction. (These 8 bundles
one layer of bed)
 Place the a small quantity of spawn 8-12 cm inside the margin at an interval of 10- 15 cm all
the periphery.
 Place the straw bundles at right angles to the previous layer in cris-cross fashion to make the
layer.
 Place the straw bundles with opposite butt ends to make fourth layer.
 Spawn this layer as stated above.
 Place another layer of straw bundles over this and do not apply spawn.
 Pressure the bed to make it as compact as possible and cover it with a transparent polythene
sheet.
 Keep the beds undisturbed for for a few days

26.  The mushrooms start appearing from all sides in 6-10 days as tiny buttons, which can be
harvested in another 4- 5 days. The harvesting is to be done at the button stage itself, since
the opened sporocarp will be more fibrous. Usually, 1-2 kg of mushroom can be harvested
from 10 kg substrate.
Paddy straw twist method
Instead of bundled straw, twisted paddy straw can also be used for cultivation
Procedure
 Make the straw into twists of about 5-8 m long and 5-10 cm diameter.
 Immerse the twists in water for 12 hr.
 Take out the straw and drain the excess water.
 Place them lengthwise over a platform on a zigzag manner.
 Place a second over this in an opposite direction.(This forms the first layer of the bed)
 Place small bits of spawn all along the periphery as above.
 Build another layer as described above and spawn the layer.
 Build up 4-5 layers and spawn as usual.
 Compact the bed by pressing and cover it with a polythene sheet.

27. Cultivation of White Button Mushroom
 White button mushroom , Agaricus bisporus tiny thumbnail sized mushrooms with
smooth rounded caps and short truncated stems.
 Depending on when they are harvested they are either stark white in color or earthen
brown like a crimini mushroom.
 Procedure
 Formulation of compost and methods of composting.
 Spawn preparation
 Spawning of compost
 Casting of compost
 Harvesting the crops.
It requires a temperature of 15 – 18 degree C during cropping. Therefore , its cultivation is
gaining popularity in hilly regions in our country.