How to cultivate the Turkey Tail Mushroom?

Transcript

Trametes Versicolor is one of the most potent and the best-studied medicinal mushrooms, according to Stamets. While the mushroom industry in India started more than five decades ago. Only four mushrooms the button mushroom, oyster mushroom, paddy straw, and the milky mushroom were commercialized. Today’s research paper, therefore, explored the possibility of diversifying the Indian mushrooms industry by studying the cultivation conditions of Trametes Versicolor, known as the turkey tail.

The authors cultivated and maintained the mycelium on Malt Extract Agar (MEA) and tested first the optimum temperature for mycelial growth. They observed the highest growth rate at 25°C while no growth at 15°C and 40°C could be quantified. They then studied the effect of different culture media.

They found the highest growth on Malt Extract Agar, followed by Raper’s Complete Medium and Potato Dextrose Agar. At the same time, Oatmeal Agar led to the lowest growth rate.

While the authors stated that the pH level did not influence the mycelial growth, the results are speaking for themselves. Showing the highest growth at a pH level of 5.5, which is declining at a higher pH value.

The authors used a mixture of sawdust and rice bran with a ratio of 90:10, which was sterilized at 15 psi for 2 hours to cultivate the mushroom. The bags were inoculated with 6% sorghum grain spawn and incubated between 23 and 27°C. After the bags were fully colonized, the temperature was maintained at the same temperature levels. Relative humidity was between 80 to 85%. While light was applied for 12 hours per day.

If we analyze all data, we see that it took on average 18.7 days with a range of 18 to 20 days for the spawn run. The initiation of the primordia formation took on average 17.8 days ranging from 14 days to 20 days. Counting the number of fruit bodies, the authors found between 10 and 36 with an average of 21.2.

These numbers lead to a yield between 64.4 to 74.2g with an average of 68.7g and a biological efficiency between 18.8 and 21.0% with an average of 19.6%. The yield was split between two flushes with 60 to 65% for the first flush and 35 to 40% for the second flush.

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Source

📝Ss, Veena & Pandey, Meera. (2012). Physiological and cultivation requirements of Trametes versicolor, a medicinal mushroom to diversify Indian mushroom industry. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 82. 672-675. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/