Cultivation of Volvariella Paddy Straw Mushroom (“Parale Chyau”)

– Also known as; High Temperature Mushroom/ Chinese Mushroom.

– Can be grown in high temperature between 30-45 °C.

– Generally three species are there;

I. Volvariella volvaceae (South Asia)

ii. V. diplosia (Burma and India)

iii. V. esculanta (Philippines and India)

– Vulva part is distinct.

Nutritional requirement:

– Best yield in waste cotton.

– Mannose and starch also support its growth.

– Addition of ammoniac nitrogen support the fast growth.

Environmental Requirement:

– Optimum temp. for mycelial growth 30-35 °C.

– Moisture content in substrate should be 70-80%.

– Light is required for fruiting and non-fruiting in darkness.

Substrate:

– Can be grown in wheat, rice and maize,  Paddy and sorghum straw.

Cultivation Method:

A. Natural cultivation:

1. Bed Method
2. Ball Method

B. Room/Artificial Cultivation:

1. Without compost
2. Composting

A. Natural cultivation:

1. Bed method:

Bed-preparation and Cropping:

– Hand-harvested, 3-4′ long, well-dried and disease-free paddy straw are taken to prepare their bundles.

– 35 bundles of paddy straw are required for one bed each being 1-1.5 kg in weight.

– The bundles are soaked in water for 8-16 hours, are taken out of water, washed with fresh water and allowed to drain off excess water.

– A bed is prepared by putting four layers and each layer contains 8 bundles.

– The spawn is now sprinkled by hand all over on the margin of the bed about 10 cm. away from the edge and continuing up to 23 cm Inside.

– The sprinkled spawn is covered with a light dusting of ‘besan’ (gram powder).

– The process is continued upto3 layers and on the last fourth layer sprinkling of spawn is done on the entire surface instead of periphery as in case of rests of the layers.

After Care of Beds:

– Water is sprayed 2-3 times in hot day and 1-2 times in rainy season. If necessary, 0.1% Malathion and 0.2% Dithane Z-78 is sprayed to overcome insects, pests and other diseases.

Harvesting and Marketing:

– Cropping starts 10-12 days after spawning and remains upto 15-20 days. Mushroom is harvested at button stage or just after rupturing of the cup, by twisting.

– After harvesting the mushrooms should be used within 8 hours or kept in 10-15°C for 24 hours otherwise these get spoiled.

– Fresh mushrooms are dried either in sun or in even at 55-60°C for 8 hours. After drying they are packed and sealed.

2. Room/Artificial cultivation:

1. Without composting:

– In raised bed put one layer of substrate and again put spawn in 3-4 cm distance from wall and 5-6cm in central part upto 4 layers.

– Cover with plastic, which also helps to increase the temperature by 5 fold than not covering with plastic.

Conditions for increasing or decreasing the yield of the mushroom:

I) For increasing :

– Tapioca starch / gram powder can be used as supplement to increase the yield.

– ZnSO₄ also increase production by 20%.

II) For decreasing:

– Addition of MgSO₄  and K₂SO₄ decrease the production.

– Temp. less than 20 °C drastically reduce production.

2. Composting:

– Compost can be prepared from waste cotton, banana leaf, rice and wheat straw etc.

– Cut the straw into 10-15cm length. Then dip in CaCO3 suspension for 6-8 hrs.

– Put the straw in hip and press gently than insert thermometer at top and cover with white plastic sheet.

– When temp. records 50 °C, then turn the compost upside down and cover again with plastic.

– After 2-3 days, compost is ready to use.