For more information, write or call:

TECHNOLOGICAL SERVICES DIVISION

Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI-DOST)
Telefax: 837-2071 loc. 2265 / 837-6156
e-mail: tsd@itdi.dost.gov.ph
 ISSN 1656 – 6831

Livelihood Technology Series 18

MUSHROOM
TECHNOLOGY

Department of Science and Technology

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE
DOST Compound, General Santos Avenue
Bicutan, Taguig City, Metro Manila, PHILIPPINES
http://www.itdi.dost.gov.ph

‘Our Business is Industry…”

2nd edition 2014

Prepared by: ELNILA C. ZALAMEDA

TSD-ITDI

EMILIO N. MONTIAGUE
EBD-ITDI

Edited by: VIOLETA B. CONOZA

TSD-ITDI

Cover layout by: LUZMIN R. ESTEBAN

TSD-ITDI

Adviser: NELIA ELISA C. FLORENDO

TSD-ITDI
 Livelihood Technology Series 18
Mushroom Technology

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This brochure was made possible through

the research efforts of the Environment and
Biotechnology Division (EBD), ITDI-DOST.
 MUSHROOM TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

Mushrooms are fleshy, spore bearing fungi. These

spores germinate under favorable conditions to microscopic
filaments which branch to form a mycelium. Fusion of
compatible mycelia gives rise to fruiting bodies. Nutritionally,
mushrooms are called saprophyte and obtain their food from
non-living matter. Carbon and nitrogen sources including
other elements available in the substrates support vegetative
growth and fruiting development of the fungi.

The fast-growing mushrooms are good source of

delicious food with high nutritional attributes like proteins,
essential amino acids, fats, vitamins, carbohydrates and
fibers, and some have medicinal values as well.

The art of mushroom propagation has advanced

dramatically in the past decades due to the techniques of
spawn preparation, wide selection of low cost materials and
availability of agro-industrial wastes used as growing
substrates.

Technical information on mushroom growing and

brochures demonstrating the cultivation of commercial species
like Volvariella volvacea (straw mushroom), Agaricus sp.
(white button mushroom), Pleurotus species (oyster and
abalone mushrooms), Auricularia species (tainga ng daga)
including the medicinal Ganoderma lucidum are now available
at the Institute.

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 Table 1. Mushroom Species Cultivated in the Philippines

CLASSIFICATION SCIENTIFIC COMMON INCUBATION

(As to temperature) NAME NAME TEMP. FRUITING

TROPICAL Volvariella Straw 37°C 28-30°C

volvaceae

SEMI TROPICAL Pleurotus Oyster 28-30°C 26-28°C

sajorcaju

Pleurotus Abalone -do- -do-

cystidiosus

Auricularia Jews Ear -do- -do-

Sp. (Tainga ng
daga)

Lentinus Shiitake -do- -do-

edodes

Agaricus Button Hot -do- -do-

bitorquis Champignon

TEMPERATE Agaricus Button Cold 22-25°C -do-

bisporus Champignon

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GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT
OF MUSHROOM FARMS/ GROWING HOUSES
1. Criteria for the selection of a site
 There should be a sufficient space for expansion
 Fresh water should be available
 Temperature range of the area should be suitable
for the specific mushroom to be produced
 Availability of transportation/proximity to market
 Not too windy area for the Volvariella species
2. Criteria for the selection of raw materials
 Availability/continuity of supply at reasonable cost
 Good quality of raw materials
3. Basic requirements
 Water source
 Available space for expansion
 Labor source
 Availability/continuity of good quality spawn
 Capital investment
4. Operational plan
5. Cultivation/technology

PRODUCTION OF TROPICAL MUSHROOM (Straw

Mushroom)
Preparation of Potato-Dextrose-Agar (PDA)
Raw Materials
Fresh good quality potatoes 200 g
Dextrose powder 20 g
Agar bar (gulaman) 20 g
Distilled water 1 L

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 Procedure
1. Wash, peel and dice the potatoes. Place 200 g in a
casserole where water has started to boil and allow
to boil until potatoes are soft enough for the pallate.
2. Strain the broth (decoction) through cheesecloth.
Restore the volume of decoction to 1 L and put back
into the casserole.
3. Add the agar (chipped) and the dextrose powder.
Heat while stirring occasionally until the agar
dissolves.
4. Dispense 30 mL in each flat rhum bottle and plug
the mouth with the bottle cotton.
5. Sterilize the medium in a pressure cooker at 121°C
or 15-lb. pressure for 15 minutes. Immediately
after sterilization, slant the test tubes at an angle of
20 to 25 degrees, making sure that the agar does
not touch the cotton plug.
6. Lay the bottles flat on the table until the agar
congeals.

Isolation of the Pure Culture (by Tissue Culture Method)

Tissue Culture Method (Volvariella volvaceae)
1. Select a good, young, healthy and fresh mushroom
(button stage for straw mushroom). Disinfect with
70% rubbing alcohol using a cotton swab.
2. Cut vertically and horizontally half portion of the
button stage mushroom.
3. With a sterilized scalpel, cut approximately 1- cm
cube to the tissue between the cap and stem and
place on the middle of the plated agar.
4. Incubate for 5 to 7 days at ordinary temperature.
This is termed as pure tissue culture.
5. Transfer the pure culture into agar slants.
6. Incubate for 5 to 7 days at ordinary temperature.
This is now termed as sub-culture.

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Preparation of Spawn Substrates
1. Place chopped dried substrate; i.e., rice straw,
banana, leguminous leaves in a suitable container
and add water until completely submerged. Place
something heavy on top to avoid floatation.
2. Ferment substrate anaerobically in water with urea
(3 grams per gallon of water) as follows:
chopped, dried tobacco midribs - 3 days
chopped, dried kakawati leaves - 5 days
chopped, dried ipil-ipil leaves - 5 days
chopped, dried rice straw - 3 days
chopped, dried water lily - 2 days
chopped, dried banana leaves - 3 days

3. Wash the substrate with tap water three times or

until objectionable odor is removed.
4. Mix with sawdust at a proportion of two parts
substrate to one (2:1) part sawdust.
5. Add rice bran (Class A) at 20% of the major
substrate.
6. Readjust the moisture at 65% to 70% (damp
moisture).
7. Place substrates in polypropylene bags (PP) and
500 g/bag. Use 6x10 PP bags and pull-end of the
bag, pass thru a PVC pipe ring (1” long x 1” dia.)
Plug with used cotton, cover with scratch paper and
tie with a rubber band.
8. Sterilize at 15-lb. pressure for 1 to 1½ hours or
steam for 4 hours in a drum.
9. Cool, inoculate with pure culture.

Inoculation of the Spawn

1. Sterilize the inoculating needle in the flame of an
alcohol lamp.
2. Lift from the inoculum about 1.5 cm² and transfer
into the bagged substrate.

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 3. Flame the lip of the bag as well as the lip of the rhum
bottle containing the inoculum before lifting a portion
for transfer.
4. The inoculum substrate is now termed spawn and is
ready for planting into beds after two weeks.

Backyard Planting of Straw Mushroom

Materials
Mushroom spawn of good quality
Bedding materials (rice straw/banana leaves)
Urea ( fertilizer)
Plastic sheet (5m/3 m bed)
Soaking vessels
Benlate (fungicide)
Procedure
1. Gather good quality substrates (dried rice straw and
dried banana leaves).
2. Arrange the substrates, bundle with plastic straw in
the middle to about 4” diameter. Have the substrate
cut to 18” length.
3. Soak the bundled substrates in clean, tap water for
a considerable period of time. Rice straw requires
3-4 hours soaking while banana leaves require 10-
12 hours soaking. This procedure renders the
substrate pliable. It allows sufficient water supply
required for the growth of mold during its incubation
period. Do not oversoak the material.
4. While the material is being soaked, prepare the bed
foundation. This could either be made of soil, wood
or concrete. Most economical and practical is soil
foundation. This is done by making a foundation
similar to a garden plot which should be east-west
oriented under a partially shaded area.
5. Prepare the fertilized paper (old newspaper) soaked
in 3g urea/gal of water for 10-20 minutes.

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 6. After the completion of the required soaking period,
haul the materials from the soaking vessel and
allow excess water to drain freely.
7. Lay the substrates on the bed foundation and make
up 3 to 4 layers during the dry season and 5 to 7
layers during the rainy season. Make the first layer
by closely laying enough soaked substrates side by
side until the whole length of the plot is covered.
8. Distribute pieces of half-squeezed fertilized paper
only along the edges of the laid substrates.
9. Distribute spawn (300 g) to the layers of a 3-m bed.
Place a thumb-sized spawn on the top of each
piece of distributed fertilized paper. Keep a 2-3”
distance between spawns.
10. Repeat the preceding procedure as you make the
second, third and succeeding layers.
11. Cover the entire bed with plastic sheet to assure
temperature build-up and to retain the moisture
required for the mushroom mold to ramify. This
should be left intact for 5 days (dry season) or 7 days
or more, depending on the existing climatic conditions
(cool, rainy months).
12. Aerate the bed on the 5th or 7th day after the
incubation period by removing the plastic cover. This
will allow the release of toxic gases which may affect
the growth of mushroom. In cases of storm, heavy
rain or too windy a place, raising the plastic sheet for
less than an hour in the morning is sufficient.
13. Return the plastic sheet cover, but never allow this to
touch the pinheads to avoid spoilage of mushroom.

Care and Management

High yielding mushroom beds depend on three
interrelated factors: good quality spawns, preparation of
bed and care and management. More tips follow:
1. Keep the surrounding clean.

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 2. Keep the bed moist if necessary. Do this by
spraying with clean water making sure that it does
not exert pressure to avoid breaking the thread-like
structures spreading on the substrates.
3. DO NOT WATER THE BEDS WHEN PINHEADS
APPEAR. This will give way to early decomposition
of fruits.
4. Picking up mushrooms would be realized on the
14th and 21st day depending on the prevailing
environmental conditions. When picking/harvesting,
do not use any sharp tools to remove the fruit from
the substrate. Hold the base of the mushroom with
bare hands and apply a simple twisting motion.
5. In case the bed is infected with other kinds of molds
or infested with insects, take the harvestable
mushroom before applying the prescribed
fungicide/insecticide and do this by spot spraying.
6. Maintain the temperature of the bed at 32° to 35°C
during the fruiting. No mushroom will fruit if tempe-
rature drops to 20°C. Mushrooms grown at higher
temperature will be smaller and lighter in weight.
7. After a lapse of one month, discard used substrates
(spent bed).

PRODUCTION OF SEMI-TROPICAL MUSHROOM

(Oyster Mushroom)
Preparation of Potato-Dextrose -Agar (PDA)
Follow the preparation of PDA as discussed in the
production of tropical mushroom.
Preparation of Substrates (Fruiting bags)
1. Mix the following materials thoroughly:
Sawdust, dried sieve - 78%
Rice bran, class A - 20%
Calcium carbonate - 1%
Refined sugar - 1%
100%

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 2. Add tap water sparingly until the mixture reaches
approximately 65-70% moisture. When a handful of
the mixture is pressed in the palm of the hand and
no water runs off in between the fingers and will stay
in form after the release of pressure, the 65-70%
moisture is reached.
3. Pile and pack the substrate in pyramidal form.
4. Cover with plastic sheet and incubate for 5 days.
Re-pile on the 3rd day.
5. On the fifth day, aerate the piled material by
spreading the material thinly in a shaded area to
remove the toxic gases produced during the
fermentation period.
Note : Do not spread the material under the sun

6. Pack 1 kg of the material in PP bags after 2-3 hours

aeration. The smell of the toxic gas is removed and
its moisture is re-adjusted to 65-70% level.
7. Collect the upper part of the plastic bag and pass it
thru PVC pipe ring (1” dia. x 1” length), then pull the
plastic thru this pipe. Hold the free end of the plastic
bag with a rubber band.
8. Plug the bag with cotton and provide with paper to
lessen moisture uptake during the sterilization process.
9. Sterilize the packed mixture at 15-lb pressure for 1 –
1½ hours.
10. Cool the substrate. This is now ready for inoculation
with Pl sp mold grown on PDA or sorghum grains.
Propagation of the Mushroom Mold
1. Inoculate the PDA with young and pure culture of the
Pleurotus mold.
2. Incubate the pure culture at 25°C for two weeks or
until the full ramification of mycelium is observed.
(This is now termed as subculture.) This is now
ready for the inoculation of mother spawn.

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 Preparation of the Mother Spawn
1. Wash the sorghum grains thoroughly under running tap
water.
2. Place in a casserole, cover with water at about 2”
above grain level.
3. Bring to a boil with occasional stirring to test the
grains.
4. Stop boiling when grains are just about to burst
(malabo/maligat stage).
5. Immediately strain water to prevent grains from
becoming overcooked. Use fine screen or
cheesecloth for the purpose.
6. Cook briskly. When grains are merely damp,
distribute in empty flat rhum bottles. One kilo will
make 10 bottles.
7. Plug bottles with absorbent cotton, support with a
piece of paper and rubber band. Sterilize at 15 psi
for 15 minutes. Then cool.
8. Inoculate with 15-day old pure culture of the mold.
(parent-tissue culture).
9. Incubate at 28-30°C until the whole medium is fully
impregnated with the mushroom mold (normally 10-15
days).
These are now the mother spawns, one of which will be
good for 25 to 30 spawn bags.
Inoculation of Substrate with Grain Spawns
1. Sterilize the inoculating needle in the flame of the
alcohol lamp.
2. Scrape the fully ramified grain spawn with the use of
the inoculating needle.
3. Flame the tip of the fruiting bag as well as the rhum
bottle containing the grain spawn before transfer.
4. Inoculate the sterilized/cooled substrate with fully
ramified grain spawn.

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INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE – DOST
 5. Incubate the above at 25 -28ºC for 30-45 days.
6. Ramify the mold in the substrate.
7. Open the ramified substrate for fruiting.

Fruiting
WHERE TO PLACE THE FRUITING BAGS
− Place the bags in a clean and cool area of the house
(temperature approximately 25° to 28°C).
− Leave the bags there for at least 4 days to allow
acclimatization before opening the bags.
Space under the sink can also serve as growing area
but make sure that it is clean and safe from insects
and rodents.
A bench atop a pan of water can also be used to hold
the bags.
− Watch out for the fruits. Development usually starts
3 to 4 days after opening.

HARVESTING
− Do this with bare hands. Gently hold the stem and
pull out the mushrooms.

CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF BAGS

− Spray water gently on the surface of the bags if they
dry up. Never do this when pinheads appear. This
will cause heavy decay of the mushroom fruit bodies.
− Cut the opposite end of the bags to allow for more
fruiting.
− Scrape the exposed areas from where mushrooms
have been harvested using a sharp knife. Do this after
each harvest.

NOTE: Fruiting bags last for three months with

approximately 8 harvests/flushes provided proper
care and management have been applied to
bags/growing houses/chambers.

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 PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT*

UNIT TOTAL
QTY UNIT PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT COST COST
(P) (P)
1 unit cooking casserole (2-li cap) 400 400
1 unit cooking casserole (4-li cap) 600 600
1 unit chopping board 150 150
1 unit working table, SS made 4"x8" 5,000 5,000
1 unit top balance (100-gram cap) 1,800 1,800
1 unit gas stove, 3 burners (with tank) 3,000 3,000
2 units wood ladle 100 200
1 unit pressure cooker (41 qts.) 30,000 30,000
1 unit isolation chamber (fabricated) 3,500 3,500
1 unit scalpel blade 120 120
2 pcs inoculating needle 120 240
1 unit shovel 300 300
1 pc stapler 350 350
20 m hose w/ nozzle 40 800
2 units garden scissor 500 1,000
1 unit siever 15,000 15,000
1 unit weighing scale (50-kg cap) 5,000 5,000
4 units weighing scale (10-gram cap) 1,200 4,800
1 unit drum (90-100 bags) 1,200 1,200
4 yds. cheesecloth 100 400
1 unit alcohol lamp 100 100
1 pc scalper holder 350 350
74,310

* Estimated Cost

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