Mushroom Culture

Equipments & Collection

The Equipments and Tools Required:
Ice boxes, Cutting knives, blades, rubber gloves, scissors, paper bags, polythene bags, paper napkin, old newspaper pieces, blotting paper pieces, field guide book on mushrooms, umbrella, torch, digital camera, an altimeter, a notebook and pen ,collecting baskets, loose wearing with a hat and hunter shoes.

Fig. 2.1 Wild forests as ideal places for Mushroom collection
Fig. 2.2 Use of a hand digging tool in the forest during the rainy season


Fig. 2.3 & 2.4 Persons engaged in collection of wild mushrooms

How to Collect Wild Fungi from forests?
Different types of mushrooms appear in meadows , fields or forests just after the first showers in the rainy season The following points should be taken care while collecting wild fungi during rainy season :

1. The colour, shape, size and the habitat of each collection should be noted .
2. Attempt should be made to compare the morphological characters with the ones given in the guide book.
3. Do not touch the fruiting body and never try to find out its taste in a hurry.Take photographs of the mushrooms when still in the soil.
4. Fruit body found should first be examined carefully.
5. The fungi should be carefully cut or dug up with the help of a knife or hand digging tool and arranged in a single layer at the bottom of the basket.
6. Collected fungi should be handled as little as possible and not bruised or crushed.
7. Though fungi such as many polypores and hydnums do not suffer much from handling , hence these should be wrapped in paper and packed more closely.
8. The locality and date, also other evanescent characters, such as a distinctive smell , change of colour when gently touched or bruised and so on , should be noted .
9. For any unknown species, especially of the gill- fungi, a spore-print should be obtained . This is done by gently removing the stem from cap, laying the cap , gills downwards on a sheet of white paper and leaving it for some hours or overnight.
10. The spore- powder deposited gives the colour of the spores , which is important for identification purposes.
11. Since fleshy fungi can not be preserved in their natural form and colour , students should make coloured drawings that will provide permanent records.