Development of Integrated Cultivation Machine System for Oyster-Mushroom

The study aimed to develop a mechanized mushroom growing system for the substrate materials mixing and wetting, materials fermentation and pasteurisation through the design of integrated cultivation machine system for oyster mushroom. The power requirement of the prototype during fermentation operation was measured in the range of 31$\~$33 kg-m and the torque has not so much differ by the kinds and quantity of materials. The work efficiency of conventional method for stacking the heap and turning the heap of cotton waste by tractor rotavator and manual wetting required 78 hours. But the watering, fermentation and sterilisation by the prototype use same operation required 25.5 hours, which can save the operation labour by $67\%$. The machine can be saved the requirement of heating energy by $63\%$, and the machine can also be saved the material cost by $44\%$. It is envisaged that the machine can effectively be used for large mushroom growing farms or joint use mushroom growing group-farmers in a village.