Oyster Mushroom Cropping

Mushrooms are called ‘white vegetables’ or ‘boneless vegetarian meat’. They contain ample amounts of proteins, vitamins, minerals and fibre. Apart from having certain medicinal properties and appreciable amounts of vitamins like Niacin and Pantothenic acid, minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and potassium, a fair quantity of iron is also present in them. Folic acid which is of vital importance for treating anaemic condition in the human body is available in large quantity. Their protein may be considered intermediate to that of animal and vegetables. Fresh mushrooms contain about 80-95% moisture, 3% protein, 0.3-0.4% fat and 1 % minerals and vitamins.

At present world production of mushrooms is estimated to be around 5 million tonnes and is ever increasing.  Total mushroom production worldwide has increased more than 18-fold in the last 32 years, from about 350,000 metric tons in 1965 to about 6,160,800 metric tons in 1997. The bulk of this increase has occurred during the last 15 years. A considerable shift has occurred in the composite of genera that constitute the mushroom supply. Mushroom is an attractive crop to cultivate in developing countries for many reasons. One of the most charming points would be that they are grown on agricultural wastes. It enables us to acquire substrate materials at low prices or even for free and to conserve our environment by recycling wastes.

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