Technology of mushroom cultivation

Abstract

Mushroom cultivation has been developed by two ways, i. e., one based on cultivation by wood-log and another based on cultivation by non-wood-log. Non-wood-log cultivation would be categorized into two aspects. Mushroom cultivation under non-aseptic condition, i. e., one characterized by the processes of fermentation (composting) with/without casing, and another characterized by using sterilized media followed by cultivation process associated with strict control of environmental factors such as light, temperature, humidity, and CO₂ concentration. The former has been developed in the cultivation of weed community fungi such as Agaricus bisporus and Volvariella volvacea, etc. The latter has been introduced to cultivation of wood rotting fungi such as Flammulina velutipes, Pholiota microspora, Hypsizygus marmreus, and Grifola frondosa, etc. and various kinds of modern technology for the induction of fruit body primordium formation such as Kinkai (scratching) and flooding have been developed. Casing is often introduced to the mushroom cultivation by herbaceous materials. There are two trends for spawning, namely one using solid spawn and another using liquid spawn. For mushroom production, fruit body induction and its synchronization are important for achievement of higher biological efficiency in the production. Currently, all cultivation processes of indoor mushroom cultivation without fermentation process are manipulated automatically by machines although automated cropping has not yet spread. Recently, irradiation by LED light during fruiting (budding and growth) is gradually introduced instead of irradiation by fluorescent lamps to save energy for the mushroom production under strict environmental control.