How to cultivate Agaricus blazei Murrill

Cultivation of Agaricus blazei Murrill goes through many steps from isolation to propagation of
pure culture, inoculation of grain to form spawn, and lastly inoculation of spawn in large scale.

-One of the important things should be careful considered is the preparation ( spawn,
substrate, and condition of cultivation ):
+ Spawn : Spawn can be either prepared in laboratory or obtained from commercial spawn
product.

Stock spawn , PDA (Potato dextrose agar ) medium is adopted . PDA medium is
composed of 200 g flayed potato , 20 g glucose, 18-20 g agar, 1000 mL water. Stock
spawn after inoculating can be transferred to about 30 tubes. At appropriate
temperature, the mycelia will overgrow the tube in 7-10 days. Commented [hg1]: http://unicornbags.com/cultivation/a
Pre-culture spawn sawdust can be used as medium (sawdust 77.5%, rice bran 20%, gbl.shtml

sugar 1%, gypsum 1%, lime 0.5%, water 120%-130%). tube can be transferred into 4-6
bottles in restrict aseptic operation. Cultured at suitable temperature, the bottle will be
full of mycelia in 3-4 weeks.
Cultivation spawn ( grain spawn ) includes wheat, rye, broomcorn, millet. The spawn is
then cultured in bottle. Cultured at suitable temperature, the bottle will be full of
mycelia in 3-4 weeks.
 + Cultivation substrate
The sugarcane residue and rice straw are the two most suitable for cultivation of Agaricus
blazei. Other components including chemical and organic fertilizers and some raw dry fresh
material (rice bran wheat straw, cottonseed shell, couch grass, reed, corn straw and so on can
also be used, with assistance of cattle ordure, horse ordure, birds ordure) are also added to the
compost mixture.
For example, 375 kg rice straw, 10 kg rice bran, 15 kg fowl droppings, 8 kg slaked lime, and
700-800 kg water are blended to be added to the medium. Also, 10-m kg ammonium sulfate
(nitrogen source ) and 5 kg superphosphate are added to provide extra nutrients for the
medium.
Other examples are :

Rice straw 65%, dry ordure 15%, cottonseed nut 16%, gypsum powder 1%, urea 0.5%,
lime powder 1%, calcium superphosphate 1%, cake fertilizer 0.5%;
Sugarcane residue 80%, beef manure 15.5%, gypsum powder 2%, urea 0.5%, lime
powder2%;
Corn straw (or wheat straw) 80%, beef manure powder 15%, gypsum powder 3%, lime
powder 1%, cake fertilizer 1%, urea 0.4% (or ammonium sulphate 0.8%);
Reed (or couch grass) 75%, cottonseed nut 13%, dry chicken manure ordure 10%, lime
powder 2%, complex fertilizer 0.7%;
Rice straw 47%, sawdust 45%, calcium superphosphate 2%, ammonium sulfate 1%,
gypsum powder 3%, lime powder 2%, urea 0.3%;
Rice straw 80%, beef manure 14%, gypsum powder 35, lime powder 3%, urea 0.6%.

+ Cultivation condition
1. Nutrition requirement
-The mainly sources of nutrient are the crop straws, such as rice straw, wheat straw, corn
straw, cottonseed shell and so on and sawdust as carbon resource; the bean cake,
peanut cake, wheat bran, corn flour, ordure of domestic animals and birds and urea,
ammonium sulphate as nitrogen resource. Agaricus blazei can also utilize sucrose and
glucose, (except ) solubility starch, ammonium sulphate, with the optimum concentration
of 0.3%, ammonium nitrate, but not peptone.
2. Temperature
-The mycelia can grow at a temperature range of 10-37C, and the suitable temperature is
23-27C. The fruit body can occur at a temperature range of 17-33C, and the suitable
temperature is 20-25C.
3. Moisture
-The optimum water content of the substrate is 55%-60% (the ratio of substrate and
water is 1:1.3-1.4). The optimum water content of soil covering is 60%-65%, while the air
humidity of mushroom house is 75%-85%.
The preferred air humidity in a
mushroom house is 60-75% for mycelium growth and 70-85% for fruiting body
4. Light
-No light is needed for mycelia growing, and a little shimmer is of some help to the
forming of fruit body.
5. Air
-Agaricus blazei is a kind of aerobic fungus, and it needs plenty of fresh air for both
mycelia growth and fruit body development.
6. pH value
-In the pH range of 6-11 Agaricus blazei can grow well, the optimum value is 8.0. The
optimum pH of the compost used in making the mushroom bed is 6.5-6.8. The optimum
pH of the soil covering is 7.0.
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