Question

Write in proper sequence the five major steps in the cultivation of the common edible mushroom.

Answer 1

Hint: Certain macrofungi produce fleshy and edible fruit bodies that can either grow above or below the ground. These edible fruit bodies are called edible mushrooms and they can be harvested by hand-picking.

Complete Answer:
The cultivation of the common edible mushroom can be divided into five phases.
1. Composting: Horse manure is used for compost preparation. Straw, gypsum, chicken manure and water are added to the horse manure for enriching it with more nutrients.
- Composting leads to the release of ammonia from the manure and factories use this to purify the air and prevent the emission of gases.
- Heat generated during composting releases heat which digests all the components of the compost and this digested compost acts as a source of nutrients for the mushrooms.

2. Spawning: The fresh compost is pasteurized at 57-60 ℃ in a tunnel killing all possible bacteria.
- After maturing for six days in the tunnel, the compost is mixed with mycelium, the spawn that will produce the mushrooms.
- The compost is then transferred to another tunnel where the mycelium spreads throughout the compost.

3. Casing: Matured compost is then spread onto long stainless steel boxes called the mushroom beds which are kept inside special dark rooms called cells.
- The temperature in the cells is kept at about 23 ℃.
- The compost is kept moist by adding a layer of peat casing material over it.
- Over a period of six days, moisture is maintained by sprinkling water over the cells.
- After this, the fungus grows through the covering layer of casing soil in two days' time.

4. Pinning: The temperature in the cell is gradually lowered from 23 to 17 ℃ in the span of four days.
- This temperature shock is a sign for the mycelium to begin sprouting the mushrooms.
- Little white buds called pins are formed from the mycelium which later develops into mushrooms.

5. Harvesting: At this stage, the temperature is kept steady at 18 ℃.
- In the third week the first flush is harvested.
- Nine days after the first flush, the second flush is harvested. The second flush mostly consists of larger, but fewer mushrooms compared to the first flush.

Note: There are more than 10,000 different varieties of edible mushroom available in the world. The various uses of mushrooms are,
- They contain different amounts of fibre and protein which is very good for the body.
- They are also a source of Vitamin B.
- They contain a powerful antioxidant - selenium which helps by providing support to the immune system.