Ferulae mushroom (Pleurotus ferulae), belongs to Pleurotus, Pleurotaceae, hymenomycetes, basidiomycete subphylum.
Its fruit bodies, some of which are hemisphere, are flat i.e. its pilei is at one side of its stipe. The mushroom is white and the surfaces of its pilei have sandy beige stripes. Its flesh is white and most pilei of wild mushrooms are chapping. Thus, the pilei have formed crude squama. The gills, some of which could reach the middle and below part of the stipes. The shape of wild mushroom is smaller than that of manual work planting mushroom. Commonly, the fresh weight of the former is 20-25 gm. The diameter of the latter is 6-12 cm while its pileus is 2-4 cm thick. The length of the latter stipe may reach 48cm while its thick is 2-5 cm. And the latter stipe is solid, mesial or agnate, upside thick and underside thin. The fresh weight of a latter mushroom is 50-150 gm and the highest weight of mushroom is 360 gm.
Water is necessary in every life activity. It is not only a kind of nutrition component and the composing portion of organism but also the menstruum of life activities. For instance, water participates in many metabolism activities including the absorption of nutrition, the transport of nutrition substances and the synthesis, transformation and decomposition of fats, proteins and sugars. Although the mushroom could endure drought, its most active period of living is the growth period of its fruit body, which process during rainy season. Without rain, the mycelium will stay at the state of dormancy or half dormancy. To plant the mushroom manually, the suitable moisture of medium materials is 60-70% while the most suitable relative air humidity of its fruit body is 85-95%. Although the fruit body could grow under the circumstance of about 60% relative air humidity, it grows slow and its size is small. Moreover, the yield may reduce and the pileus might chap as well as the formation of squama on the pileus surfaces.
The medium components used for manual planting are as following, cottonseed nut, wooden bit, bran, cane sugar, glucose, yeast grease, potato, KH2PO4, MgSO4 and gypsum. Used formal medium, the mushroom could grow well and form normal fruit body. This shows that the mushroom could utilize common glucide i.e. can sugars, glucoses, amylums, celluloses, hemicelluloses, protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals.
The mycelium could grow under the circumstance of 5-32°C and it grows fast when the temperature is 24-26°C. The good growth temperature of fruit bodies is 8-15°C. The fruit bodies of Xinjiang wild mushroom arise in a great deal from April to June, whose temperature is 0-15°C. However, the fruit bodies of manual planting mushrooms could form when the temperature is 8-25°C. And it could grow fast and be gained better quality when the temperature is 15-20°C
The growth of the mycelium doesn’t need rays. It could grow well in entire darkness condition. However, the differentiation and growth of fruit bodies need definite dispersing ray. It is not easy to form fruit bodies under the circumstance of straight ray and entire darkness. The ray requirements of different breed are not the same. Some would like to have stronger ray while others are not. It is easy to form abnormal mushrooms when the ray is too feeble. That is, the stipe is slight and the pileus is small. Commonly, the ray must be controlled so that the fruit bodies could grow normally.
This mushroom is atrophic. Whenever it is the growth phase of mycelium or the developing phase of fruit body, fresh air is required especially at the latter phase. The characteristics of the latter are bloom metabolizability, intense breath and great air demand. The fruit bodies grow slow when the ventilation is bad. Also, they may rot if the environment is high temperature and humidity. However, the fruit bodies could recover grow after the temperature is falling and the environment is ventilated. The formation of fruit body is induced with fresh air, ray and low temperature. And fresh air is of most important function.
The mycelium could grow on the cants of test tube. It could grow under the circumstance of pH value 5-9. But it grows best when pH value is 6.5.
Now the strain used for planted is domesticated and reared mushrooms such as KH2 strain. This strain is obtained by separation of single spore. Its size is big while its stipe is tubby. Moreover, its pileus is large with white color. Another strain K5 has thick and long stipe and thick pileus. Its surface is velvet. K1K2K4 is a cross strain. It has middle size of stipe and pileus. And each mushroom bag could produce 3-4 mushrooms. Its texture is rigid. What’s more, its yield is high.
Many offal of farming byproduct, including cottonseed skin, wooden bit and maize core, could be applied to plant the mushroom. The materials should be fresh and non~rot. Also, they should be solarized before used.
These materials include brans, red or white sugar, gesso, calcium carbonate, calcium superphosphate and yeast peices.
The mushroom could be planted in plastic bags or vast orifice glass cans, filled in ripe materials. The bags are made from polypropylene plastic or low-pressure polyethylene plastic. The spec could be 15×20 cm and 17×32 cm. The components of medium are as following,
It is better to mix main materials together so that the nutrition is abundant and the physical characteristics of the materials are better. People may process the bags, sterilize them, inoculate the strain and cultivate them conventionally. The culture temperature should be controlled between 25~26 C. Commonly, the hyphae may overgrow the bags 1~1.5 months later after inoculation. It is time to management fruiting after the hyphae have overgrown in the bags for one week.
The seasons should be arranged based on the fruiting temperature. Its suitable fruiting temperature is 10-20°C. Commonly, the planting seasons are between September and October. Thus the mushroom could be harvested between November and April of next year. The fruiting seasons should not exceed the middle ten days of April.
The places could be adjusted measures to local conditions. People may use expert mushroom houses, common houses, which are reconstructed slightly, basements and cuniculuses to plant the mushroom. The places should be able to preserve heat and damp, ventilate and penetrate ray. Convenient fountainhead is needed too. Multilayer bedsteads can be placed in mushroom house to increase the number of the bacterium bags and improve the using ratio of mushroom house’s unit superficial. The ambience around mushroom house must be clean and would not have domestic animal, washroom and dust heap avoiding plant diseases and insect pests. Mushroom house should be killed insects and sterile before using. Clean up the mushroom house, suffocate with sulfur or sterile with 2% coal hydroxybenzene soap liquid, insufflate with 0.5% vapona solution. Cover tightly after insufflations for one night. Then it is ready to use.
Put the bacterium bag full of hyphal onto the growth fight, which has been sterile to induce forming of mushroom. Then rise the mushroom house temperature to 12-15°C. This can be achieved by air conditioner, electric cooker or else. It is better for great area and cosmically planting to use nature temperature of winter-spring season.
The mushroom house humidity of Ferula Mushroom may keep between 85% and 95%. Spray with sprayer every day. The littler water drops the better. It should be better spray water to floor and wall a little time after time avoiding spray onto the fruit body.
Planting mushroom of Ferula Mushroom need 200-1500 Lux dispersion illumination. Switching the door and window can control it. For basement and underground, we may use electric light to satisfy development of fruit body. Commonly electric light is fainter than sunlight. The stipe of Ferula Mushroom fruit body is longer, pileus is smaller under the feeble illumination but it does not influence its edible value, on the contrary feeling of stipe is more forcible and more delicious.
Anlages come out from the Ferula Mushroom planting bag under the induction of appropriate temperature, humidity, light and air. Cotton stuff can be removed when anlages come out of the material surface of bacterium bag. Remove the unwanted plastic bag upside of the bag to improve fruit body grow up when anlages grow to about 2 cm. If fruit body appears from the sidewall, we can discharge a hole on the side to let it come out. Convenient for centralize administerization, Bacterium with fruit body in accordant size can be put together onto the same mushroom frame. It is unsuitable for Ferula Mushroom to hasten bud adopting unbind the bag. Differentiation of fruit body should be carried out when its ringer haven’t been loosed, then unfix the cotton stuff until fruit body grow to 2-3 cm to avoid mushroom buds die. Cover with non~spin fabric to keep wet after unfixing the cotton stuff. That keeps humidity from 70%-80%. Unfix the non-spin fabric after 2 days, turn over plastic bag to scatter buds reserving 1-2 fruit bodies with good form and flourishing productivity. At the same time, reinforce draught to vegetate better products.
Plant diseases and insects prevention we should pay more attention to prevention. Clean the mushroom house before planting then sterile. Mushroom mosquitoes whose harm is great are archenemies to Ferula Mushroom planting. The time of escaping from the bag should be suspended to avoid mushroom mosquitoes imagoes getting into bags laying eggs which lead mushroom worm eat up mycelia. That is to say unfix the cotton stuff after Ferula Mushroom fruit body appears anlage to add fresh air for fruit body growth. When fruit body grow to 2 cm, cut upper unwanted plastic bag to provide more air, illumination and moisture.
It is time to harvest when fruit body’s pileus of bag change from involution to gradually flat. Handhold stipe radicle of the fruit body and eddy pull out, cut mushroom root with timber scraps, put onto plastic box with plastic pellicle, then they can be put into the market and be sold. Or pack them into little plastic bag or deliver them to deeply process. It can be harvest only once for Ferula Mushroom and depose bags must be eliminate after harvesting.
It is most delicious for fresh Ferula Mushroom. Therefore, mushrooms must deliver to market at once. To prolong stages of fresh, avoid by all means inundate, otherwise it is amiable to arose rot and deteriorate. Despite of Ferula Mushroom ‘s texture is forcible, unity is crosstie and non~frangible, endurable collide, we still ought to take and set lightly to decrease collision. The stages of fresh will prolong when the mushroom appearances keep perfect. Still the stages of fresh are less than 3 days. Too long time will lead mushroom lose edible value.
There is season character for Ferula Mushroom planting. It is necessary to process and store in order to accommodate market needs for years.
Drying is a easy and amiable procession method. That is to chop fresh Ferula Mushroom into slices 5 cm in length, less than 3 cm in width, deep 0.6-0.8 cm, then drying and dehydrate under 60°C for 10-15 hour. The moisture of dry slide requires less than 13%. After drying, encase Ferula Mushroom dry slices into polyethylene plastic bag and obturation store or sell.
