Mushroom Biology and Mushroom Products. Sánchez et al. (eds).

2002
UAEM. ISBN 968-878-105-3

UPDATES ON SPAWN PRODUCTION OF VOLVARIELLA VOLVACEA,

THE TROPICAL STRAW MUSHROOM

T. H. Quimio
Department of Plant Pathology
University of the Philippines Los Banos
College, Laguna, Philippines
<hq@mudspring.uplb.edu.ph>

ABSTRACT

This paper describes updates on a simple and low-cost way to prepare Volvariella volvacea spawn.
Growers can prepare their own spawn and small entrepreneurs can begin spawn production as a
means of income generation and assistance to the small growers and farmers to whom the spawn
will be provided.

In this technique, mother spawn is made up of the same sorghum grains used for Pleurotus
ostreatus fruiting bags and is used to inoculate the V. volvacea spawn bags instead of the traditional
agar inoculum. A bottle of V. volvacea agar culture purchased by spawn growers from a central
laboratory and used to seed the mother spawn bottle thus can produce thousands of spawn bags.

The same sawdust compost mixture used for growing P. ostreatus, can be utilized for preparing V.
volvacea spawn. The P. ostreatus growers can therefore easily engage also in V. volvacea spawn
production. Instead of jars, autoclavable polypropylene bags plugged with cotton are used in
preparing these spawn. The inoculated bags are incubated at temperatures between 32-36 C for
faster mycelial growth. Pink chlamydospores that are produced by the mycelium are indicative of
good growth and serve as added inocula on the mushroom beds.

INTRODUCTION

Volvariella volvacea (Bull. ex Fr.) Sing. is generally known as rice straw mushroom. Specifically, it
is called “fukurotake” in Japan, “choku” in China, “hed-fang” in Thailand, “cendawan jerami” in
Malaysia, “kauk-yo-hmo” in Burma, “djamur padi” in Indonesia and “kabuting dayami or
“kabuting saging” (rice straw or banana mushroom) in the Philippines. These mushrooms had their
origin in China, where they have reportedly been cultivated for almost 300 years. They were
introduced to other Southeast Asian countries more than a hundred years later by migrating overseas
Chinese (Chang 1977). Most Southeast Asian people prefer this mushroom to the western button
mushroom, Agaricus brunnescens.

The straw mushroom V. volvacea grows at relatively high temperature and is thus also called the
“warm mushroom” or a “mushrooms for the tropics”. The mycelium grows best at 32-36 C while
the mushroom fruits are formed at around 2-3 degrees lower. It is a fast-growing mushroom and
fruits 10-14 days after spawning. Cultivation of this mushroom is ideal in rural areas where rice
straw is abundant after each rice harvest and can provide additional income and food to rice farmers
in between planting seasons. Using the indoor technology which is recommended for industrial
scale production, the mushroom can also be grown with better yield, on other composted
substrates such as oil palm waste, cotton waste, corn cobs, and sugarcane bagasse.

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Today, there is a steady increase in the world production of V. volvacea, and this mushroom has
become an economic mainstay in the agricultural economies of most of Southeast Asian countries,
with China as the leading producer (Chang 1996). The mushroom is also grown now although in
smaller quantities, in many tropical regions of the world such as Mexico, Puerto Rico, India,
Mauritius and Madagascar. It may even be possible to grow this mushroom in the southern states of
the USA such as Louisiana, Georgia, Texas and California where rice or wheat straw is available.

The technology of growing V. volvacea indoors on cotton waste has proved to be a turning point in
the history of straw mushroom cultivation (Chang 1974). V. volvacea can utilize the highly
cellulosic cotton wastes better than ligno-cellulosic rice straw (Chang 1993). The use of cotton
wastes has increased the biological efficiency from 6-10% (with rice straw) to 30-45%(with
composted cotton wastes). Cotton wastes can also be utilized using outdoor technologies, and this
has greatly increased mushroom production in countries where cotton waste abounds such as
Thailand and Indonesia. Unfortunately, cotton waste is not readily available in the Philippines, so
farmers still make do with rice straw or banana leaves. They also prefer to use outdoor bed
technology, because it does not require growing houses and other sophisticated equipment
recommended for industrial scale production indoors.

Several outdoor technologies are available (Quimio et al. 1990). All of them are simple and do not
require much capital except for the cost of the mushroom spawn, assuming that the substrates and
labor are free. Many growers continue to use these methods because of their low production costs,
despite irregular yields resulting from improper substrate management. Their main problem appears
to be obtaining a source of high quality spawn.

The Mushroom Research and Extension Laboratory at the University of the Philippines Los Banos,
has existed for the past ten years as a self-supporting unit, catering to the needs of mushroom
growers from all over the Philippines. It was an offshoot of a five year project of the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI) called Prosperity Through Rice in which farmers looked at what rice
plant by-products could offer. The present laboratory provides mushroom cultures, technical
assistance, training courses, publications, and the most in-demand item, mushroom spawn. Below
are updates on V. volvacea spawn production in the Philippines as well as in developing countries.

VOLVARIELLA VOLVACEA SPAWN UPDATES

Preparation of spawn

There were two types of spawn used in the Philippines after mushroom growing was introduced in
the country around 1935 (Clara 1937): the pure culture spawn and the wild or “virgin” spawn. The
former was a prepared pure culture of the fungus growing on a suitable substrate and the latter was
material from the beds containing mushroom mycelium and spores, or the substrate on which the
mushroom was found growing. Later, based on spawn imported from China (composed of rice
straw from which the mushroom had grown) local farmers learned to employ previously used straw
to plant new beds. As might be expected, productivity was uncertain.

Spawn-making is a highly specialized part of mushroom cultivation. In most cases, spawn is

prepared by specialized spawn laboratories or factories and is shipped to mushroom growers

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under very aseptic conditions. There are a few large spawn companies in the USA and Europe
which use highly sophisticated equipment and methods. The spawn is dispatched to mushroom
growers in refrigerated vans. These companies can serve overseas growers by sending the spawn
airfreight in refrigerated containers.

The situation is different in developing countries, where farmers lack reliable sources of good
quality spawn. In many cases, even national government laboratories where the spawn can often be
obtained do not provide consistent service because they are affected by budgetary problems. In
cases like this, growers may decide to discontinue production or attempt to make spawn for
themselves.

Appropriate Technology International (ATI), a development assistance organization based in

Washington, USA, conducted preliminary studies in 1992 to assess the potential of mushroom
growing in Nepal, Bangladesh and India (Ferchak and Croucher 1993). The studies included market
overview, producers and exporters, types and value of mushrooms, processing requirements, and
potential for small farm cultivation. One of the common obstacles to the commercialization of
mushrooms by small farmers was found to be the lack of access to quality spawn.

The technology of spawn production may be simplified. In fact in some developing countries like
the Philippines, spawn making may be done right in makeshift laboratories at home. Where there
are spawn-makers (however small) mushrooms abound in the markets because mushroom growers
can easily obtain spawn. To encourage spawn producers, our laboratory continuously searches for
very simple ways to prepare spawn. We also concentrate on giving training to government
agricultural specialists all over the country. They are encouraged to prepare and sell spawn, to
promote mushroom growing, and to do what our laboratory is doing – to be self-supporting and
provide spawn and technical assistance to mushroom growers within their areas of responsibility.

Handling of Cultures and Presence of Chlamydospores

Mycelial cultures are used to prepare the spawn and it is important that the spawn be made with
cultures or strains tested for reliable performance. The source of cultures should therefore be
centralized and properly coded. Small spawn makers are advised to carefully heed this suggestion.

Cultures of V. volvacea are unique among edible mushroom cultures because they do not survive at
chilling temperatures of 5C to 10C. They cannot therefore be refrigerated like other mushroom
cultures. They grow at 30C for up to 6 months or even a year as long as the agar on which they are
growing does not dry up. At 15C to 20C, different strains react differently, although in general,
they can also be stored at these temperatures for one year.

Cultures of V. volvacea do not survive with other means of culture preservation such as storage in
mineral oil and distilled water. It is therefore necessary that spawn makers who handle cultures of
Volvariella should learn how to prepare new cultures either by single spore germination or tissue
culture. This should be done when the cultures appear to start to degenerate because of many
transfers, based on observance on the yield and size of the fruits. Their only means of long storage
without change or at least with minimal change in quality, appears to be being “flash-frozen in
liquid nitrogen” (Stamets 1993)

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Chlamydospore formation is characteristic of V. volvacea cultures just as black asexual spores are
characteristic of Pleurotus cystidiosus and P. abalonus. Reports (Quimio and Mangaoang
unpublished paper) showed that formation of these spores is an inherent characteristic of a
particular strain but may be influenced by the medium or substrate on which the mycelium is
growing. Chang (1982) had earlier indicated that their presence is indicative of good quality as they
act as storage units of balanced cell contents. These spores also serve as additional inocula during
artificial cultivation of the mushroom, each spore of which is capable of germinating and forming
mycelia. The appearance of chlamydospores (Figure 1) is indicative of culture quality and maturity;
hence mushroom spawn showing those pink or brownish chlamydospores (Figure 2) is preferred by
many growers.

Spawn substrates

There are two types of mushroom spawn: the mother spawn and the planting spawn (Figure 3 and
4). The mother spawn is usually made up of grains such as rye, wheat, millet and sorghum. It is
inoculated with an agar plug after sterilization. The planting spawn is the actual spawn that is used
for either inoculating the Pleurotus spp sawdust bags or the V. volvacea beds. The mother grain
spawn is used to seed the planting spawn.

The substrates for preparing V. volvacea planting spawn vary according to availability in the
region/country. Some of the recommended substrates are cotton wastes, oil palm wastes, tea wastes,
coffee hulls, tobacco midrib and other cellulosic plant waste materials. In places where these
recommended substrates are not available, small spawn growers resort to trying other materials, or
give up trying to prepare spawn. While rice straw, banana leaves, water hyacinth leaves and other
materials can also be used, they must be finely chopped, a rather laborious task in the absence of
agricultural chopping machines.

In our laboratory, we have been using the same sawdust mixture that is used for growing Pleurotus
spp to prepare V. volvacea planting spawn. Matiru and Quimio (1992) had reported that sawdust
mixtures supported a lot of fruit primordia of V. volvacea when supplemented with at least 10-20 %
of rice bran, corn meal, wheat bran, or legume leaves meal. Chang (1993) had reported that V.
volvacea lacked the ability to produce phenol-oxidizing and lignin enzymes and that several lignin-
related phenolic monomers and tannin derivatives were reported to inhibit its growth (Cai et al.
1993). It appears that addition of rich supplements can counter this inhibition on sawdust substrate.

Mother spawn made up of sorghum seeds have been used to inoculate the V. volvacea spawn bags,
instead of using the traditional agar medium inoculum. A V. volvacea culture flat bottle used to
inoculate the sorghum seeds therefore goes a long way in producing the planting spawn.

Spawn containers

Autoclavable polypropylene bags with microporous breather strips for gas exchange and plastic
spawn bottles with breather plug are available in many mushroom supply companies in developed
countries. These are “the stuff of dreams” for poor spawn makers in developing countries. They use
either recyclable glass jars or pp bags with necks made from cut PVC pipes in place of the
commercial plastic neck to hold the cotton plug. For additional air, a tunnel may be formed at the
middle of the substrate by placing an empty test tube at the middle of the substrate during packing
and removing it during inoculation.

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The use of autoclavable polypropylene bags, instead of bottles or jars greatly facilitates transport
(especially mailing) the spawn. Sterilization by pressure is still a requirement for 100% sterilization,
so a minimum requirement for the new and low-budget spawn maker is a pressure cooker.

CONCLUSION

Lack of good quality spawn is a major problem for mushroom growers in developing countries.
Unlike growers in developed countries, where spawn production is controlled and centralized in
large spawn companies, farmers in developing countries have to make do with spawn that they buy
from a laboratory or make themselves.

Spawn making, whether a home project or a small company activity, requires that the spawn be in
good condition when delivered or sold to the growers. Quality control in spawn-making consists of
constant inspection to eliminate visibly contaminated spawn or spawn exhibiting questionable
appearance and growth. Spawn makers should be well- trained not only in how to produce spawn
but also in how to recognize problems in the spawn produced. They should be trained in how to
detect the sources and causes of contamination so that appropriate remedial action can be taken the
next time they prepare spawn.

When growing V. volvacea mushrooms on a small scale (e.g. preparing ten beds at a time) it is not
necessary to prepare one’s own spawn. Spawn making requires specialized knowledge that is
difficult to obtain by reading alone. The spawn maker must be properly trained because farmers
(especially small producers and beginners) are completely dependent upon him. The growers do not
know whether they are getting good or bad spawn, so the spawn maker must be totally trustworthy.

Mushroom growing can be a million dollar enterprise but it can also be a low-cost, income-
generating activity for men, women and youth especially in rural areas. Mushroom growing
requires limited space, simple technology, low capital, abundantly available raw materials, and
intensive labour. All these could make mushroom growing a worthwhile livelihood for poor farmers
in developing countries. But to be sustainable, one of the requirements is for farmers to have access
to quality spawn. Thus, the search for appropriate technology to produce quality planting material
without the use of sophisticated equipment must continue. Only when such technology is obtained
can we achieve a sustaining role for mushrooms in providing additional food and income to people
in developing countries.

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Figure 1. Chlamydospores (dark spores) of a Figure 2. Spawn showing lots of pink
2-week old mycelium of V. volvacea. chlamydospores.

Figure 3. Mother spawn made of grain, Figure 4. Planting spawn made up of sawdust or
inoculated with agar mycelial plugs. rice straw added with bran.

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 LITERATURE CITED

Cai, Y.J., J.A. Buswell and S.T. Chang. 1993. Effect of lignin-related phenolic monomers and tannin
derivatives on the growth of the edible mushrooms, Lentinus edodes, Pleurotus sajor-caju and Volvariella
volvacea. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 9: 503-507.
Chang, S.T. 1974. Production of the straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) from cotton wastes. Mushroom
Journal 21: 348-353.
Chang, S.T. 1977. The origin and development of straw mushroom cultivation. Economic Botany 31: 374-
376.
Chang, S.T. 1982. Mushroom spawn. In: S.T. Chang and T.H. Quimio (eds). Tropical mushrooms –
biological nature and cultivation methods. Chinese Univ. Press. Hongkong.
Chang, S.T. 1993. Biology and cultivation technology of Volvariella volvacea. In: S.T. Chang, J. Buswell,
and S. Chiu (eds). Mushroom biology and mushroom byproducts. Chinese Univ. Press. Hongkong.
Clara, F.M. 1937. Culture of edible mushrooms in the Philippines. The Philippine J. of Agriculture
8:225-235.
Ferchak, J.D. and J. Croucher. 1993. Prospects and problems in commercialization of small-scale mushroom
production in South and Southeast Asia. In: S.T. Chang, J. Buswell, and S. Chiu (eds). Mushroom biology
and mushroom byproducts. Chinese Univ. Press.
Matiru, V. and T.H. Quimio. 1992. Enhancement of growth of Volvariella volvacea (Bull. ex Fr.) Sing on
sawdust. Mushroom Research 1: 65-141.
Oie, P. 1991. Some aspects of mushroom cultivation in developing countries. In: Mush. Sci. 13(2)777-780
Quimio, T.H., S.T. Chang and D.J. Royse. 1990. Technical guidelines for mushroom growing in the tropics.
FAO, Rome.
Quimio, T.H. and Y. D. Mangaoang. (submitted for publication). Role of chlamydospores on the fruiting and
survival of some strains of Volvariella volvacea. Philippine Agriculturist.
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