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The Future of Farming: Mushroom Cultivation as a Rural Youth Livelihood of Tamil Nadu

Author: Kalaichelvi Kalaignan, Jeya Rani Maria Michael, Vinothini Selvaraj, Shanmugapackiam Subbaiah, Ehab A.A. Salama and Murali Sankar Perumal

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Abstract

Sustainable farming and distribution practices are a pressing challenge for all of us today. This is due to the increasing population and younger generations having less knowledge about agriculture and its modernization, stemming from the belief that "agriculture belongs to rural individuals and not urban ones." This research is largely fuelled by a foolish idea. The location was selected near the wetland of Pushkaram College of Agriculture Sciences, Pudukkottai. The mushroom unit with 11× 11 feet diameter with a height of 12 feet accompanied with proper space, good aeration, light, water sources, and drainage facilities. In this study, 20 mushroom beds were prepared by students and the harvest starts from 21 DAS. Totally, three harvests were done and it was marketed in local farmers’ weekly markets. Among the three harvests, optimum yield recorded at 6.35 kg/harvest

Keywords

Aspergillus spp., Contaminants, Oyster mushroom, SDGs, Spawn

Conclusion

During June to September of 2024, the mushroom production was successfully handled by students from collection of spawn from sale after harvesting. In this period, the weather conditions were favorable to mushroom production from spawning to harvest and it significantly reduced the incidence of contaminants. So, the growth promotion and reduction of pathogens’ occurrence has mostly related to climatic factors. While, cultivation of oyster mushroom along with under favorable climatic regimes (22-25°C and 85-90% RH) betterment outcomes are given to farmers

References

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How to cite this article

Kalaichelvi Kalaignan, Jeya Rani Maria Michael, Vinothini Selvaraj, Shanmugapackiam Subbaiah, Ehab A.A. Salama and Murali Sankar Perumal (2025). The Future of Farming: Mushroom Cultivation as a Rural Youth Livelihood of Tamil Nadu. Biological Forum, 17(3): 21-24