Simplified and lower cost methods for culinary-medicinal mushrooms cultivation

The importance and prospect of growing mushrooms through utilization of low-cost, technologically simple methods for developing Third World countries has recently been outlined. Three different species from genus Pleurotus (P. djamor, P. pulmonarius, and P. sajor-caju) and one from genus Hypsizygus (H. ulmarius) were studied. Whole stalk wheat straw, shredded wheat straw, and ground maize cob (Zea mays) were used as the substrates. Wheat straw is the post-harvest stalk of Triticum aestivum. Biological efficiency (BE), growth dynamics, and photographs are provided for each cultivated strain, on different substrates, and substrate treatment comparisons are made. From several experiments conducted with various technologically simple methods of cultivation, it was found that all above mentioned species can be successfully cultivated at the village level in any country, be it highly developed or the poorest country on earth.