Cultivation practice of Pleurotus spp.
• Pleurotus spp. can be grown on paddy straw, wheat straw, 
banana leaves etc.
Requirements:
• Substrate for cultivation: paddy/wheat straw etc
• Spawn
• Pasteurization/sterilization unit
• Polythene bags 
• Supplements (gram flour/saw dust etc.) (its optional)
• Cultivation room (well ventilated with proper temperature, light,  moisture)
 
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
1. Selection of Substrate
• Selection of substrates for Pleurotus cultivation is most crucial aspect for the cultivation.
• Pleurotus can be cultivated on various substrates which are available locally
• It can be cultivated on pure substrate or combination of different substrates.
• It can be grown on various agricultural waste materials that are biologically degradable
• They perform well on a mixture of saw dust and other combination of tropical wastes such as corn cobs and leaves, cotton waste, sugarcane bagasse and leaves.
• Paddy straw is most commonly used as a substrate for the cultivation of oyster which is a common practice in Nepal.
 
2. Sterilization
• Before sterilization rice straw should be chopped to about 5 cm or smaller length.
• The chopped straw should be soaked in water overnight. For the best result the straw should be immersed in boiling water drained off and washed until the clean water is seen.
• If wheat straw is used, it should be softened by composting for a week.
• Sterilization can be done with the help of drum.
• There should be 4”×6” water in the drum where three or four bricks should be kept upright position; perforated round plate of tin should be kept on bricks.
• Then, the drum should be filled with moist straw.
• It should be steamed for half an hour to kill all insects and wild fungus.
• After steam sterilization it should be cooled either in drum itself or in big plastic bag.
• In context of Nepal farmers are using this method for sterilization as they don’t  possess any other well equipment for sterilization.
• So complete sterilization can not be assured by this method.
• Most of farmers in our country are not taking care during sterilization.so  they have to face contamination problem during cultivation.
• For Pleurotus cultivation straw should be well sterilized.
   

3. Inoculation:
• Cultivation of Pleurotus is usually carried out in transparent polythene bags.
• It is not necessary the size of plastic bag should be fixed.
• However experience show that small bag is good for summer season and large size bag is good for winter season.
• Plastic bag filling method is popular in Nepal.
• For inoculation of the spawn; it would be good to have bag size -
14” × 22” (in summer) or 16” × 26”(in winter).
• Spawn should be spread in every layer of straw of 6-8 cm height and pressed the straw slightly to make bag compact.
• After filling the bag with spawn and straw, mouth of the bag should be tied with thread.
• Small holes should be made for aeration.
• Inoculation should be done with clean hand.
• Ones should be careful during inoculation to minimize the possibility of contamination as far as possible.
• It would be better to have a separate room for inoculation.
 
4. Incubation:
• It is the process of providing suitable environmental conditions to run mycelium well in substratum.
• During incubation, light is not required, however, make sure the bags have plenty of fresh air.
• The packed bags or blocks are incubated in a well ventilated room where uniform temperature of 25ºC is maintained.
• The area was all covered with wet jute sack to provide it moist condition. Water was timely sprinkled.
• In Nepal, the most dangerous problem during incubation period is Green Mold.
 
5. Observation
• Mushroom, then should be observed thoroughly, following changes can be seen,
• 3rd day: no changes may be seen except some dew collected at the top of bag.
• 6th day: minute threads of mycelium spread around the spawned grain can be seen.
• 10th day: White mycelial thread can cover larger area.
• 15th day: mycelium may extent to larger areas but nearly same as in 10th day.
• 25th day: now the fungus cover most of the part and at that day the plastic covered can be removed and placed in another room for further production.
 
6. Harvesting:
• During reproductive phase ventilation should be provided so that fresh air can flow easily.
• Temperature and humidity should be maintained.
• Light water spray is necessary two times per day.
• When temperature is low, fruiting body are ready to harvest at about 7-8 days but when temperature is high it may get ready within 3-4 days.
• Harvesting is done when the cap has the diameter of 8-1 cm.
• Picking is done by twisting gently so that it is pulled out without leaving any stalk and also the nearby fruiting bodies are not disturbed.
• When the base of the stipe is deeply immersed within the straw, cutting the base of stipe with Sharpe knife can be done.
 
 
 
We are really so excited for our first harvest.