local markets. This group of companies have a production capacity ranging from 1,000 to 30,000 substrate bags/year. Biological efficiency is about 25 - 30%, strongly depending on the species. However, this group usually has pro- blems with low yield because these mushroom species are typically grown in mushroom houses without climate control. These houses can airflow mushroom spores by wind, but they can- not retain the moisture content of the substrate. Their method of growing these mushrooms is mostly based on common sense and experience. Contamination of the crop with other fungal species, especially Thichoderma spp. (green mould), is also a quite serious problem because the mushroom houses are usually built under trees for shade or near others agricultural crops; vegetables, orchard and rice field, that have to spray biological control agents (based on Tricho- derma species) for control of plant disease.
2) Middle level of mushroom farms, this group usually can prepare their own spawn from master spawn using sorghum as a carrier. They make plastic bags containing substrate by themselves and sell both, spawn, the fully colo- nized substrate and the mushrooms they grow themselves. Around 22% of the mushroom farms belongs to this group and such companies have a production capacity ranging 30,000 to 200,000 substrate bags/year.
3) Big farms, have a production capacity ranging from 200,000 to 600,000 substrate bags/year. Around 5% of mushroom business is belongs to this group. Normally, the farms at this level have the knowledge and equipment for isolation of mushroom tissue cultures, maintaining these strains in collection, preparing sorghum based spawn, make plastic bags with substrate and sell both of colonized substrate and mushrooms they grow.
4) Very large mushroom production companies, represent only 1% of the mushroom farms in the country. Their production capacity exceeds 600,000 substrate bags/year. Such companies not only sell the fresh mushrooms but they also have the ability to process the mushroom in a cannery or export them in a preserved form. Alternatively, they make alternative products such as dietary supplements (like instant drinks) or cosmetics (for instance creams or serum with mushroom extracts).
Mushroom production Thailand has the potential to cultivate and pro- duce many kinds of mushroom at an amount of 150,000 ton annually, which an estimated value of 247 million EUR. Around 97% of the production
Plastic bag cultivation method (left picture is Pleurotus mushroom, right picture is Schizophyllum commune).
Conventional indoor bed cultivation method of straw mushroom.
Log culture method (left picture Lentinus squarrosulus and right picture is Ganoderma lucidum).
Typical mushroom growing house.
Processed mushroom product. MUSHROOM BUSINESS 43
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