Requirements of a mushroom house A Presentation By Mr Allah Dad Khan Former Director General Agriculture Extension KPK Province and Visiting Professor the University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan

2. Requirements of a mushroom house at
cottage/commercial level
Dr. Ishrat Naz
Department of Plant Pathology
The University of Agriculture, Peshawar
Khyber Pakthunkhwa

3. TERMINOLOGIES USED IN MUSHROOM
GROWING
1. Substrate-carrier material used in growing mushroom
2. Spawn-mushroom ”seed”
3. Mycellium-This fiber- like ”roots” that grow through the
substrate.
4. Pin-heads-The first signs of sprouting mushrooms.
5. Fruiting-process of mushroom development(growth)
6. Fruiting body-The actual mushroom.

4. TERMINOLOGIES USED IN MUSHROOM
GROWING
7. Cluster- several mushrooms growing together sometimes
from the same stem.
8. Colonization-Growing of mycelium through the substrate.
9. Contamination-infection of other unwanted organism e.g.
green mould, black mould etc.
10. Dark room-Room with total darkness where spawns are put
for the first 14-21 days for the mycelium to colonize
(incubation).

5. Requirements of a mushroom house
1. Mushroom Housing: the structure should not be complex,
it could be made simply from locally available materials.

6. Requirements of a mushroom house
• Materials used include: -
1. Steel structure tubing covered with tarpaulin
2. Bamboo woven matting insulated inside with polythene
sheets.
3. Grass thatched houses or with shade cloth thatching
4. Green houses clad with insulation (glass wool) and roof
vents
5. Mud walled house

7. Mushroom house

8. Mushroom houses

9. Mushroom house

11. Mushrooms

12. Button mushrooms

13. Mushroom bed

15. Conditions
1. The structure should provide the required conditions
to favor mushroom growing e.g.
(i) Lighting
(ii) Humidity
(iii) Temperature

16. Requirements of a mushroom house
2. Housing conditions: -
1. Temperature
a) Incubation 20-27o C (14-21 days)
b) Fruiting/pin formation 10-18o C
2. Humidity
a) Substrate moisture - 60-70%
b) Fruiting body 80-95% humidity

17. Requirements of a mushroom house
2. Housing conditions: -
3. Light- Mycelia growth (Incubation) can take place
without light - Fruiting body (mushroom growth
process) requires light.
4. Ventilation -Fungi are aerobic therefore need fresh air
especially during the reproduction stage.

18. Substrate
• Substrate is any material used to support growth of crops
instead of soil. Mushroom can be classified as:
1. Primary decomposers of organic matter (like wood,
leaves and straw in nature) e.g. shitake and oyster
mushroom,
2. Secondary decomposers-matter degraded by bacteria or
other fungi e.g. button mushroom.

19. Substrates
Wheat straw Shitake mushrooms on wood

20. Natural growth

21. Substrate
• The planting materials should make a good combination so
as to give a balanced nutrient supply to the mushroom.
• E.g.
• Tea leaves,
• water hyacinth, wood shavings.
• Corn stovers,
• Cotton straw,
• Cotton husks,

22. Substrates

23. Substrates

24. Examples of Agricultural waste substrate
materials include:
• Wheat straw,
• Banana leaves,
• Banana pseudo stems,
• Barley straw,
• Bean pods/straw,
• Coconut fibre,
• Coffee parchment,
• Coffee pulp,
• Coffee sawdust,
• Corn fibre,
• Corn cobs,
• Grass,
• Groundnuts shells,
• Legume straws,
• Paper pulp,
• Potato foliage,
• Rice straw,
• Saw dust,
• Sorghum stover,
• Sugarcane bagasse,
• Sunflower stypes,

25. Factors to consider in substrate selection
• High yielding substrate
• Ease of use
• Cost of substrate
• Availability
• Storage
• Cost of transport
• Clean (without moulds/coloration)
• If possible from the previous harvest

26. The sterilization process
• Grain, sawdust and compost contain large
numbers of contaminants. A single grain
kernel may contain thousands of bacteria,
fungi and actinomycetes.
• Steaming in an oil drum for at least 6
hours is usually necessary to ensure proper
heating of the inner core of the substrate
bags.
• Sterilize 4-liter bags filled with 2kg spawn
substrate for at least 2 hours at 121°C.

28. Pasteurization by steam generator

29. Pressure cookers
• The cheapest option is to obtain one or more large pressure
cookers. Select pressure cookers that maintain the pressure
when the final temperature has been reached.

30. Incubator with spawn containing Bottles

31. Culture (Spawn) in Petri plates

32. Requirements for spawn production
• Inoculation box or laminar airflow cabin
laboratory equipment like Petri dishes, test
tubes, scales, alcohol, flame
• Incubator
• Incubation room
• Refrigerator
• Weighing scale
• Polyethene bags

33. Requirements for spawn production
• The raw materials include:
• Ingredients for media preparation
• Substrate material (grain, wooden sticks (skewers), sawdust,
or even oil palm fruit fiber)
• Pure culture or fresh mushroom of the desired mushroom
species strain
• Spawn containers (such as bottles or plastic bags)

34. • The minimal requirements for a spawn
production unit are:
• A sterilization unit (pressure cooker,
autoclave) sterile environment:

35. INCUBATION ROOM

36. Cultivation on wheat straw beds

37. Pleurotus ostreatus in plastic bottles

38. Requirement for Button mushroom
• Mushroom house
• Cement or concrete platform (14 x 7 meters) for preparing
compost
• Tray beds (wooden trays made up of pinus or deodar)
• Compost ingredients
• Spawn (mushroom seeds)
• Casing soil
• Sprayer with nozzle
• Sterilization facility
• Wooden board with handle for compressing the compost
• Lime or carbonate of lime

39. CHALLENGES FACING MUSHROOM
GROWERS
1. Bacteria
2. Viruses
3. Competitor mushrooms
4. Co2 accumulation
5. Light deficiency
6. Pesticide effect
7. Trichoderma (infectious fungi)