Detailed Explanation of Key Points for High-Yield Cultivation Techniques of King Oyster Mushroom
The king oyster mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii) is a large fleshy agaric of excellent quality. The fruiting bodies grow singly or in clusters, with thick flesh, slow cap opening, dense stalk tissue, snow-white and thick stalks, few spores, and a long shelf life, unlike common oyster mushrooms. It is nutritious, high in oligosaccharides, rich in protein and amino acids, crisp and tender in texture, delicious in taste, with excellent mouthfeel, and offers health-promoting and beauty benefits.
The king oyster mushroom has a short production cycle, broad market prospects, high returns, and is readily accepted by farmers. The high-yield cultivation techniques for king oyster mushroom are introduced as follows:
1 Cultivation season
The optimum temperature for king oyster mushroom is 11-16°C. Temperatures that are too low or too high make it difficult for fruiting bodies to form, so each region must arrange the cultivation season according to local climatic conditions and the temperature required for fruiting. In the Tang County area of Hebei Province, production is mainly in late autumn and early winter.
2 Raw materials and formula
Cottonseed hulls 2000kg, wheat bran 400kg, cornmeal 50kg, brown sugar 20kg, superphosphate 4kg, urea 4kg, quicklime 25kg.
3 Mixing and bagging
Weigh the substrate ingredients according to the proportions, mix them and add water, controlling the moisture content at 60%-65%. Stir the substrate evenly and then bag it. Use plastic bags of 14×55cm specification; bag the substrate with a bagging machine. Each bag weighs 1.6-1.7kg.
4 Sterilization and inoculation
After bagging, immediately place in the sterilization stove. At normal pressure, maintain 100°C for 20-25 hours; at high pressure of 1.5 atmospheres, maintain for 2-3 hours. After the substrate is sterilized, wait until the substrate temperature drops to room temperature before disinfecting and inoculating. Strictly carry out all disinfection work during inoculation. After inoculation, keep the room temperature at around 25°C for mycelial growth. Low temperatures slow mycelial growth, while excessively high temperatures cause contaminant organisms. When the mycelium has spread to the size of a bowl mouth, it can be moved into a thoroughly disinfected mushroom house.
5 Cultivation management
When the king oyster mushroom mycelium has fully colonized the entire bag, suitable temperature and humidity can be applied to induce fruiting. Keep the cultivation room temperature at 12-18°C and humidity at 90%-95%. Water can be sprayed into the air and onto the floor. Generally, after 10-15 days, mushroom buds will appear. It is best to open the bags when primordia have formed and small mushroom buds appear. The speed of budding is greatly related to temperature; at 12-16°C, fruiting is faster. Opening the bags too early will affect the yield and quality of fruiting. It is advisable to open the bags when the mycelium has not yet knotted. To extend the shelf life of the fruiting bodies, controlling humidity at around 80%-85% 2-3 days before harvest is better. If the bags are opened when the fruiting bodies are larger, deformities will occur, and in severe cases, shrinking and rotting will occur. Therefore, when cultivating king oyster mushroom, it is best to open the bags when primordia have formed small mushroom buds.
5.1 Temperature control
The temperature of the mushroom house directly affects primordium formation and fruiting body growth. When the temperature is below 8°C, primordia are difficult to form. When the temperature rises to 21°C, existing growing fruiting bodies grow rapidly and quality declines, while small mushroom buds stop growing and begin to shrink, and primordia stop differentiating. When the temperature continues above 21°C, existing fruiting bodies will soften, shrink, and rot, and the surface tissue of the substrate will also shrink and rot. Throughout cultivation management, the optimal temperature of the mushroom house should be controlled at 12-18°C.
5.2 Humidity control
The humidity of the mushroom house should be maintained at 85%-95%. If humidity is too low, fruiting bodies will shrink and stop growing, while primordia will dry and crack and not differentiate. When watering, be careful not to spray water directly onto the fruiting bodies, otherwise the fruiting bodies will turn yellow, affecting quality, and in severe cases causing rot.
5.3 Air regulation
During the fruiting body development stage, fresh air is needed, and the mushroom house should be ventilated frequently. With poor ventilation, fruiting bodies are difficult to develop normally, and small fruiting bodies shrink and stop growing; some fruiting bodies appear shrunken, and then on the already shrunken fruiting bodies, deformed small mushrooms differentiate, appearing branch-like and unable to develop into normal fruiting bodies. If high temperature and high humidity are encountered at this time, the fruiting bodies will rot. Therefore, the mushroom house must maintain good ventilation conditions.
6 Harvesting and processing
The suitable harvest time is when the mushroom cap opens, is flat, and spores have not yet been ejected. The harvest standard for export requires small caps and thick stalks. The first flush yield per bag is 70%-80%, and the second flush can be harvested about 15 days after the first harvest.