Writer:Prativa Chhetri
On April 04, 2021, a programme on mushroom cultivation for students capacity enhancement was held in “College of natural resources and management “ maddichaur, rolpa.
The project works with theoretical, practical knowledge over mushroom types, benefits (commercial as well as nutritional) and provides an opportunity to enhance the capacity of students working with farmers incoming days.
Educators involved in the project actively use the obtained professional knowledge and skills in the training process.When describing the cooperation with the parties involved in the programme "All the parties involved in the programme were responsive and showed interest thus bringing an opportunity to know more about mushroom ,Therefore mobility participants gained much wider experience.
"Our journey starts with theoretical knowledge about mushroom which includes some brief introduction, history like; how to grow mushroom to improve the farmers livelihood and ofcourse nutritional values.
In Nepal, mushroom cultivation began in 1976. Nowadays it is a fast growing business due to its high profit. Farmers can get output within one month from ‘pleurotus’ cultivation. Nepal is also a country where mushrooms can be cultivated throughout the year under natural environmental conditions.“We have plenty of raw material for mushroom cultivation. Skilled farmers can earn a lot of money from its cultivation. It is also necessary to develop cultivation technology of this valuable mushroom. Some of the wild mushrooms are poisonous but cultivated mushrooms are safe for consumption. They have high medicinal and nutritional value, may be considered as a pool of nutrients and also popularly called” Vegetable Meat”, in view of the current energy food crisis. It has become most important to make a substantial breakthrough in the technology of food production to meet a serious food deficit situation. It consists of protein, Carbohydrate, Vitamins, Minerals, Fiber, etc.
Growing them can help solve the malnutrition problem in our country. So from every point of view farmers should be encouraged to cultivate mushrooms.”
Oyster mushroom or oyster fungus is a common edible mushroom. The scientific name of oyster mushroom is Pleurotus Ostreatus. It was first developed from Germany during the World War-I and then it is cultivating now commercially all over the world.Oyster mushrooms are highly rich in protein, non- starchy carbohydrate, fiber, minerals , vitamins -B and have no any cholesterol. Such a mushroom has high quality protein and contains the abundance of essential amino acids.
After the theoretical knowledge we headed to the preparation of mushroom production for which we required following things:
Straw,Mushroom seeds,plastic bags,plastic sheets, Gas stove , Scissors to cut straw or straw cutting machine , plastic bucket ,potassium powder,steel drum for straw steaming.
While collecting all of the things and helping each other, enjoying the work, made me remember the delights and innocence of childhood memories..
After the material was collected:
At first we selected the straw. Straw should be clean. If there is any green part, we have to remove it. After that we have to cut the straw into 2-3 inches with the help of cutting scissors or a cutting machine.
Now, at the second stage, we washed the straw nicely. Here we wetted the straw for at least 2-3 hour or we left it overnight. After that we drained the water nicely.
In the morning we came to college at 8 am.Again, in the third stage we had to steam the straw. To steam the straw, we bought a big steel drum and put water upto 6 inch. The straw containing the sack sinks in the drum for steam.we had put on fire. Before putting it on fire, we had pressed the straw sack with a big stone and left it to boil for upto 40-45 min. After that we took out the straw sack from the drum and waited for complete draining.After that some of the students including me were there for the sterilization of the polythene bag which was laid upon the ground in the library room , everything was sterilized over there even our hand were sterilized as it was the main thing for mushrooms was to be uninfected After getting the straw cool , Then we had put some amount of potassium powder which helps to grow mushroom seeds and kills the bacteria there.
After we were done with sterilization and drying up of the straw, 12" 16" or 16" 26" inch plastic bags were provided by our teacher, we sowed the seed of a mushroom, we had put the seeds layer by layer with ready straw. Make one layer of straw and then sow a seed and then again put the straw and then seeds like this make the plastic bag full and then tie. While we sowed the seeds , we sowed it on the side of a plastic bag not in the middle. At last we made a small hole with a stick just by making the 2 inch gap between each hole all over the bag.
After that we kept all the plastic bags into the dark room for 3 weeks.At that time the temperature should be 22-25 degree centigrade. After 3 weeks slowly the mycelium will start to grow which seems like a white cotton. After that we cut the plastic bag and arranged it into the floor. We kept it on the floor, just keeping a wooden block or playboard just above the stones.
At this time, we showered the water 2-3 times in a day. Mainly the water should be poured just around the straw not inside the straw. It means we have to pour the water only on the surface. After 4 weeks, slowly small white thread like structures was seen.
At this time, inside the dark room, air was circulated. At the same time, we maintained a temperature between 20-30 degree centigrade.
After 4 week we started to harvest the mushroom. The first time after 4 week or 4 weeks 3 days we can again pick the mushroom again. At this time, we must water the mushroom bag. If we take care of the mushroom carefully, we can pick the fresh mushroom for 90 days.
It was a great experience and the training session for the beginners . We are thankful for the team which helps us to know about various types of mushroom, poisonous as well as edible, its nutritional value, commercial value and the main thing was it will help the farmer for their livelihood after gaining the training we students of cnrm maddichaur can make sure that we can help the farmer in the sector of mushroom training .
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