Kakkar Commercials Private Limited

Description

Introduction: - Button Mushroom (Agarics spp.) is the most popular mushroom variety grown and consumed the world over. In India, its production earlier was limited to the winter season, but with technology development, tit is produced almost throughout the country round the year in small, medium and large farms, adopting different levels of technology. Types of Mushrooms: - In India, today, commercial grown species are Button and Oyster Mushroom, followed by other tropical mushrooms like Paddy straw mushroom, milky mushroom, etc. The concentrated production areas in India are the temperate regions for button mushroom, tropical and sub-tropical regions for Oyster mushroom, Milky, Paddy straw and other tropical mushrooms. The present production of white button mushroom is about 85% of the total production of mushroom in the Country. Origin: - Cultivation of button mushrooms (A. bisporus) started in the sixteenth century in France. India, with its diverse agroclimatic conditions and abundance of agricultural wastes, has been producing mushrooms, mainly for the domestic market for more than four decades. Commercial productions picked up in the nineties and several hi-tech export-oriented farms were set up with foreign technology diborations. Production Status: - Large scale white button mushroom production is cantered in Europe (mainly western part), North America (USA, Canada) and S.E. Asia {China, Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan and India). The national annual production of mushrooms is estimated to be around 1,00,000 tones with 85 percent of this production being of button mushrooms. In India the cultivation of white button mushroom throughout the year under controlled condition is restricted to a few commercial units and there is significant production of this mushroom under natural conditions during the winters in hilly areas and plains of North India. Majority of the growers in India do not have paste utilization facility and other sophisticated machinery/infrastructure for round the year production of white button mushroom. As such, button mushroom is cultivated seasonally when climatic condition are favourable and production expenses are minimum. Many growers in Haryana have revolutionized the cultivation of white button mushroom by adopting very simple and cheap technology of construction of mushroom houses (thatched huts). Seasonal growing of white button mushroom in Haryana and Punjab has many advantages like nearness to market, easy and cheap availability of raw material coupled with utilization of family labour. Many of the growers in HP do not use compost prepared by long method because pasteurized compost is readily available from mushroom projects located at Solan and Palampur. Economic Importance: - Mushrooms are highly proteinaceous and are a health food. The white button mushroom is sold as fresh mushroom or is canned and made into soups, sauces and other food products. It also has medicinal properties. The mushrooms are free from cholesterol, have low sodium high potassium, negligible sugar, high fibre and are the only vegetarian source of vitamin D. Various mushrooms also have anti-viral and anti-tumour properties. Argo-climatic Requirements: - In India, button mushrooms are grown seasonal land in environment-controlled cropping houses. White button mushroom requires 24±2° C for vegetative growth (spawn run) and 16-18° C for reproductive growth. Besides that, it requires relative humidity of 80-90% and enough ventilation during cropping. Seasonally it is grown during the winter months in the north-west plains of India and for 6-9 months in a year on the hills. However, with the advent of modern cultivation technology it is now possible to cultivate this mushroom anywhere in India. The growers can take on an average 5-6 crops of white button mushrooms in a year under controlled conditions. Factors affecting the yield of the crop both in terms of quality and quantity are type of strain used, incidence of pests/pathogens and non-availability of pure quality of spawn. Selection of Location for Mushroom unit: - Button mushroom requires cool climatic conditions and hilly areas such as Nilgiris in the South and Shimla in the North were favoured as suitable sites for commercial ventures on button mushrooms. At present mushroom units have come up all across the country and are growing mushrooms almost throughout the year under controlled conditions. Following few points have to be taken into consideration for greater operational efficiency and cost-effective production of mushroom at the farm: • The site should preferably be nearer to motorable road or road head educe cost on transportation of raw materials/finished products. • Water availability at the site either through a perennial source or should have sufficient ground water. • Easy availability of raw materials especially straw and poultry manure around the site at cheaper rates in the area. Availability of cheap labour. • Uninterrupted power supply. • Nearness to the market for the proper disposal of the produce.