BigPatents India

Conventional long and short methods of producing button mushroom used chemical fertilizers, pesticides, growth promoters, etc. and took a long time to produce of desired quality. Moreover, large quantities of ingredients are needed which add to the cost of production This invention aims at overcoming the above defects and provide a process for preparing substrates which comprises- (i) selecting dry cellulose and lignin-rich vegetative matters in chopped and shredded condition; (ii) soaking the chopped and shredded bodies in water for around 24 hours; (iii) wetting dry cowdung in water in a proportion of around 1:1.5-2.5 by weight over a period of around 24 hours; (iv) mixing the soaked , chopped and shredded bodies and cowdung together followed by the addition of the undernoted ingress:- (a) Gram (Cicer arietinum ) powder – 12-20% by weight ., (b) Calcium carbonate powder – 7.5 -15% by weight, (c) Gypsum powder – 3-7.5% by weight. (v) thoroughly mixing the ingredients of steps (IV) and placing the mixture in bags of synthetic material capable of withstanding temperature of at least 1200C-1250C plugged with cotton; (vi) Sterilizing the bags with their contents in an autoclave for around 15-25 mins and cooling them down to ambient temperature. The present invention also envisages production of button mushrooms by inoculating the sterilized substrates with suitable spawns, incubating, followed by casing. (FIG. - Nil)