Scientific name: Agaricus bisporus
Family: Agaricaceae
There several types of strains & varieties are available in the world but most popular variety are white and brown in colour.
Benefits of button mushroom:
According to the USDA, 1 cup of whole white button mushrooms contains:
· 21 calories
· 3 grams of protein
· 0.3 grams of fat
· 3.1 grams of carbohydrates
· 1 gram of fiber
· 2.9 milligrams of calcium
· 0.5 milligrams of iron
· 8.6 milligrams of magnesium
· 82.6 milligrams of phosphorus
· 305 milligrams of potassium
· 8.9 milligrams of selenium
· 16.3 micrograms of folate
· 6.7 international units of vitamin D
Cultivation Technology
Commercially button mushrooms are grown in indoor conditions and it can be cultivated throughout the year. It requires a place where you can control temperature, humidity and air flow.
Structure
seasonal structure of mushroom farm
Seasonal structure: You can use village structure or hut where low initial investment in growing structure. Inside racks can be constructed by using cheap alternative sources like bamboo, woods etc.
Permanent structure: If you avoid rack maintenance cost and need lost lasting farm, can invest in permanent structure. It contains high tech weather controller and various kind of sensory system.
Button mushroom permanent structure
Permanent Button mushroom structure
Temperature management: Actually, for button cultivation 2 kinds of temperature is required. There are two phases of mushroom growth, first one is vegetative growth and second one is reproductive growth. Both the stages required different kinds of temperature.
For vegetative growth button mushroom requires 21-25oC temperature for well mycelium growth.
For pin head initiation, it requires 12- 18o C temperature. Mushroom pinhead initiate abrupt change in temperature and humidity.
Relative humidity: Must be in the range of 80 – 90%.
CO2 Level: Amount of CO2 level plays a great role in button mushroom production. During the initial stage of vegetative growth, it requires high amount of CO2 level and during fruiting stage, there must be proper air circulation & mixture of oxygen with CO2 inside the farm for proper growth of mushroom.
Composting
A combination of plant wastes (cereal straw, sugarcane bagasse, etc.), salts (urea, superphosphate, gypsum, etc.), additives (rice bran, wheat bran), and water is used to prepare the substrate on which button mushrooms grow. It takes 220 g of dry substrate materials to produce 1 kg of mushroom.
Short method of composting: In the initial stage of compost preparation, layers of paddy straw are put to a stack together with enough water, fertilisers, wheat bran, molasses, etc. The straw is properly combined with everything before being stacked (almost 5 feet high,5 feet wide and of any length can be made with the help of wooden boards). On the second day, the stack is twisted and watered once more. Gypsum is added and watered on the fourth day, when the stack is flipped once more for the second time. On the twelve day, when the colour of the compost turns dark brown and it begins to give off a pungent ammonia odour, the third and final turning is done. The pasteurization phase is the next step. In order to kill unwanted microorganisms and competitors and turn ammonia into microbial protein, the compost created by the microbe-mediated fermentation process needs to be pasteurized. The entire procedure takes place in a steaming room with a 600 C air temperature that is maintained for 4 hours. The final compost should have a granular structure, 70% moisture content, and a pH of 7.5. It should be dark brown in color, sweet-smelling and unobtrusive, and free of nematodes, insects, and ammonia. The substrate is cooled to 250C when the procedure is finished.
Button mushroom compost preparation
Long method of composting: Composting via the lengthy approach is typically done in places where facilities for steam pasteurization is not available. According to this procedure, the first rotation is performed roughly six days after the composting substrate has been prepared. On the tenth day, the second turning is performed, and on the thirteenth day, gypsum is added, the third one. On the sixteenth, nineteenth, and twenty-second days, the fourth, fifth, and sixth turnings are administered. The seventh turning is administered on the twenty-fifth day after adding 10% BHC (125 g), and the eighth turning is administered on the twenty-eighth day after which it is determined whether the compost has an ammonia odour.
Spawning: The process of mixing spawn with compost is called spawning. The different methods followed for spawning like spot spawning, surface spawning and layer spawning.
Top layer spawning of button mushroom compost
Spawn run: It takes the fungal bodies around two weeks (12–14 days) to colonies when they emerge from the spawn. The cropping chamber is kept at a constant temperature of 23 200 C. Any temperature over that required for the purpose will hinder spawn growth, while any temperature below that would slow down the spawn run. A CO2 content that is greater than usual would be advantageous, and the relative humidity should be approximately 90%.
Casing:The compost beds after complete spawn run should be covered with a layer of soil (casing) about 3-4 cm. The casing material should be having high porosity, water holding capacity and the pH should range between 7-7.5. The mixtures like garden loam soil and sand (4:1); decomposed cow dung and loam soil (1:1) and spent compost, sand and lime are commonly used. The casing soil before application should be either pasteurized (at 66-700 C for 7-8 hours), treated with formaldehyde (2%), formaldehyde (2%) and Bavistin (75 ppm.) or steam sterilized. The treatment needs to be done at least 15 days before the material is used for casing.
Harvesting:Harvesting is done at button stage and caps measuring 2.5 to 4 cm across and closed. The first crop appears about three weeks after casing. Once the harvesting is complete, the gaps in the beds should be filled with fresh sterilized casing material and then watered.
IF you haven't already, You can now enroll into online course on button mushroom cultivation where you will learn each and every step of it in detail.
To join the course click on this link. What skills and knowledge this course will impart you ? You will learn, Cultivation technology of Button Mushroom, cremini mushroom, Portobello Mushroom , in the most economic and effective way with Special coverage on marketing ,food processing & Pest-Disease management.
This training course teaches in the most comprehensive and easy style so that even if you are a beginner, you can easily under stand each and every aspect of button mushroom cultivation and implement it as well at your place.
The course covers are the vital areas like cultivation, farm design, substrate selection, spawn, pest and disease control , food processing and marketing. The course design is hybrid, you will learn through our online program (Videos, eBooks, Audiobook, Live webinars, Doubt clearing sessions) and also you will receive mushroom spawn, so that you can carry on with your practical assignment. Our instructor shall guide you through out the practical session.
Bonus: You shall be invited to exclusive members community in WhatsApp and Facebook , where you can learn from peers. For marketing purpose we do post regular buy leads and their contact details through out the India and world for our community member.
Once you enroll into the course you shall receive and email from there you will be able to launch your training program. Incase of any support or query feel free to call/Whatsapp us on: +917363970073 Happy Mushrooming !
Another innovative method of compost preparation at low cost is by using the Poly tent and pipes. Checkout the video for detail understanding.
