Using Agricultural Wastes for Tricholoma crassum (Berk.) Sacc. Production

Tricholoma crassum (Berk.) Sacc. is usually found only once a year, particularly in the rainy season. The potential for commercialization of this mushroom was investigated. As an attempt to cultivate T. crassum, rather than collecting from nature, agricultural wastes (mungbean husks and potting soil) were used as substrates for cultivation. Prior to the fruiting step, sawdust and sucrose were used as main carbon sources without fermentation or decomposition during spawn run. The type of containers and substrates for cultivation were compared in relation to fruit body yield. The results suggest that potting soil in container with the least aeration exhibited the highest yield (44.5 g fresh weight of fruiting body per 800 g spawn). Total period of production took almost 3 months. Moreover, the cultivation approach developed here can control the appropriate size of fruit bodies for further commercialization.