Coimbatore: Even as the unrelenting heat touched new highs this summer season, residents who domesticate mushrooms on a business scale say its production has tremendously long gone down.
As mushroom cultivation needs low temperature and top humidity, those who grow it set up separate rooms offering optimum stipulations. But, with the soaring temperature, they say they to find it tough to care for favourable stipulations. In some cases, mushroom spores don’t sprout, while sometimes budding mushrooms wilt, they mentioned.
Though they used to obtain yield of around 60 packets of mushrooms from 200 mushroom beds, due to consistently top temperatures, production has diminished to only 4 to five packets, mentioned Okay Thennilavan, who at the side of his buddy R Elackiya, cultivates oyster mushrooms at Singanallur. “While in some cases, spores haven’t sprouted, younger buds wilted due to heat sometimes. Of our 200 mushroom beds, simplest 40 have sprouted. We have to break 160 baggage as they rotted,” Thennilavan mentioned.
Though the more temperature-sensitive button mushrooms are cultivated within the Nilgiris, oyster mushrooms can also be grown in Coimbatore. They want a temperature of 20°C to 27°C to thrive. As the maximum temperature within the city touched 39.five°C just lately, cultivators mentioned they face trouble in maintaining the stipulations. Though they claimed to use rainy sacks and coconut fronds to cool the cultivation area, it has not been of a lot use, they mentioned.
Maintaining humidity is one of the key issues mushroom farmers face during summer season, mentioned A R Subramanian, who has been cultivating oyster mushrooms here for 20 years. “Mushrooms want 80% humidity to grow. In summer season, humidity would drop to 25% to 30%,” he mentioned. Though with a correct set-up to care for temperature and humidity, the placement can also be controlled, small and medium-scale growers, who cannot have enough money the technology, could be affected a lot in summer season, he added.
Oyster mushrooms are grown by means of introducing the spores in baggage filled with pasteurised straw. After the baggage are used, they used to offer the straw to farmers to be used as manure, mentioned Thennilavan. “But now, as the spores have rotted, we are pressured to offload them,” he added.
As mushroom cultivation needs low temperature and top humidity, those who grow it set up separate rooms offering optimum stipulations. But, with the soaring temperature, they say they to find it tough to care for favourable stipulations. In some cases, mushroom spores don’t sprout, while sometimes budding mushrooms wilt, they mentioned.
Though they used to obtain yield of around 60 packets of mushrooms from 200 mushroom beds, due to consistently top temperatures, production has diminished to only 4 to five packets, mentioned Okay Thennilavan, who at the side of his buddy R Elackiya, cultivates oyster mushrooms at Singanallur. “While in some cases, spores haven’t sprouted, younger buds wilted due to heat sometimes. Of our 200 mushroom beds, simplest 40 have sprouted. We have to break 160 baggage as they rotted,” Thennilavan mentioned.
Though the more temperature-sensitive button mushrooms are cultivated within the Nilgiris, oyster mushrooms can also be grown in Coimbatore. They want a temperature of 20°C to 27°C to thrive. As the maximum temperature within the city touched 39.five°C just lately, cultivators mentioned they face trouble in maintaining the stipulations. Though they claimed to use rainy sacks and coconut fronds to cool the cultivation area, it has not been of a lot use, they mentioned.
Maintaining humidity is one of the key issues mushroom farmers face during summer season, mentioned A R Subramanian, who has been cultivating oyster mushrooms here for 20 years. “Mushrooms want 80% humidity to grow. In summer season, humidity would drop to 25% to 30%,” he mentioned. Though with a correct set-up to care for temperature and humidity, the placement can also be controlled, small and medium-scale growers, who cannot have enough money the technology, could be affected a lot in summer season, he added.
Oyster mushrooms are grown by means of introducing the spores in baggage filled with pasteurised straw. After the baggage are used, they used to offer the straw to farmers to be used as manure, mentioned Thennilavan. “But now, as the spores have rotted, we are pressured to offload them,” he added.
Production dips as soaring heat chokes mushroom growth
![Production dips as soaring heat chokes mushroom growth]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
April 14, 2019
Rating:
