Detailed Explanation of the Key Technical Points of Edible Mushroom Production, Cultivation and Management
Edible mushroom production, cultivation and management should grasp the following principles: First, ensure the safety of raw materials, including the safety of sawdust, cottonseed hulls, bran, crop straw, casing soil materials and various added ingredients used as culture substrates; for raw materials contaminated by miscellaneous bacteria, the contaminated parts must not be reused for cultivation, to prevent the accumulation of harmful components; Second, the environmental sanitation and water quality standards of the selected cultivation site should meet the environmental and water quality requirements for food production, and the water directly sprayed on the fruiting bodies must meet drinking water standards; Third, disease and pest control and the management of production and processing environments should implement prevention as the main approach, and it is absolutely not permitted to spray pesticides directly on the fruiting bodies. When chemicals must be used, low-toxicity and high-efficiency biological agents should be selected, and the timing and dosage of chemical use should follow pesticide safety use standards. For space disinfection, ultraviolet disinfection and 75% alcohol disinfection are recommended. The specific measures are as follows:
1. Selection of the surrounding environment of the cultivation site. The edible mushroom cultivation site should be selected far away from places that may cause pollution, with the surrounding environment meeting food hygiene requirements, posing no harm to human health, and having no pollution sources or dust. When selecting a cultivation site in the surroundings of a town, even more attention should be paid to staying away from densely populated residential areas and main roads, and it is also necessary to prevent pollution caused by urban household waste, harmful exhaust gas, wastewater and excessive human activity.
2. Selection of topography and landforms. The ideal location for an edible mushroom cultivation site should be chosen in a place facing south with a broad terrain, clean water sources and abundant cultivation resources, which is conducive to air circulation and the growth and reproduction of aerobic edible mushrooms.
3. Selection of raw materials. The edible mushrooms currently cultivated artificially are all saprophytic fungi, and they are cultivated using agricultural and forestry by-products as the main raw materials to prepare culture substrates. Selecting pollution-free raw materials is an important basic step in preventing contamination of edible mushroom products. For those using sawdust as the main cultivation raw material, a safety test of the raw material should be carried out in advance; if pesticide residues exceed the standard, methods such as soaking in water and fermentation can be used to reduce the residual content before use. For those using manure and straw as the main cultivation raw material, the chance of contamination is greater, such as pesticide residues and heavy metal cadmium, so the relevant components in various raw materials should be tested as necessary before cultivation, and raw materials with low content of harmful components should be selected as the culture substrate.
4. Control of raw material processing and preparation. Strictly control the processing environment so that the raw materials are not invaded by harmful substances during processing. For example, during the crushing process, prevent harmful oil stains from mixing in and prevent sawdust from aromatic tree species from mixing in. All components of the culture substrate should be safe raw materials, and the substrate should be prepared strictly according to the formula. Do not arbitrarily add components that one assumes can increase yield, such as chemical fertilizers and nutrient agents. The tools and machinery used should be safe and hygienic utensils.
5. Control of cultivated varieties and cultivation models. At present, nearly 50 species of edible and medicinal mushrooms can be cultivated artificially, and nearly 100 more species can be domesticated for artificial cultivation. Because their mycelia have different suitable temperatures, humidity and growth speeds, and their speeds of decomposing and assimilating external substances also differ, some varieties have a strong ability to accumulate certain metals, and some varieties themselves produce formaldehyde during metabolism. For products with special requirements for certain components, the nutritional metabolism characteristics of each edible mushroom variety should be considered. Pleurotus species are relatively likely to accumulate heavy metals, and this accumulation ability differs among varieties. The correlation between cultivation models and contamination should not be ignored either. For species cultivated with casing soil, the safety of the casing soil material should be controlled.
6. Control of the cultivation management process. This mainly involves water quality control and the hygiene of harvesting utensils. The water quality directly sprayed on the fruiting bodies must meet drinking water standards, the water quality for soaking mushroom bags should at least meet the drinking water standards for poultry and livestock, and the harvesting utensils should meet the hygiene requirements for food raw materials, including the health and hygiene of harvesting personnel; special gloves should be worn when harvesting special species, etc.