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Abstract: The Mushroom Test Demonstration Facility (MTDF) is a pilotsized mushroom plant designed to demonstrate advanced technologies and utilizes a flow-type design. The first section of the facility houses the composting operations and features a specially designed automatic compost turner to which is attached a tray filler unit at final turn. The turner uniformly mixes and waters compost and constructs a pile which is compacted to give uniform fermentation. The first section also houses the casing materials and the equipment for preparing and pasteurizing these materials - an aerated steam treated method is used. After Phase I of composting the filled, 4' x 4' x 6" deep trays are moved by fork-lift via a special door to the pasteurization room into the second section of the facility. The compost then undergoes phase II composting which is controlled by a programmed automatic system. Following pasteurization the compost-filled trays are removed from the pasteurization room via a second door and are placed on an automatic materialshandling line for spawning. The line automatically destacks a pile of eight trays, tips the compost on a belt where a metered amount of spawn is thoroughly mixed with the compost, then refills and presses the compost into the trays which are restacked. Tryas are then placed by fork-lift into a spawn growing room where they are held for 13 days. After this period, the trays are removed and passed through the materials handling line for nutritional supplementation and casing (sacing). Supplementation at casing was first reported by Sinden and Schisler (1962). Essentially the same process is followed except that the nutrient used is finely ground soybeans mixed at the rate of .25 to .33 lbs per square foot. The soybeans have 11% moisture and a nitrogen content of 6.48% on a dry weight basis. At the MTDF, the ground soybeans are placed in the spawn hopper and the automatic line operated in the spawning mode. The trays are placed on the line, sequentially dumped onto the spawning belt, nutrient added from the spawn hopper, colonized compost and nutrient mixed by the mixing beater. This mixture was then refilled into the trays, pressed, and cased. After casing, the trays are moved to the third section of the facility and placed in a production room; more recently a specialized set-back room has been established. In this section of the facility various cropping practices are studied and the mushrooms harvested, generally for five breaks. The harvested mushrooms are removed from storage at the opposite end of the building from which the compost entered, as is the spent compost which is steamed-off at the end of each crop as a sanitation and pest control procedure. Sections two and three of the facility have graduated pressure zones, so that air tends to flow from clean to less clean areas. One-micron filters are used to reduce the changes of introducing air-borne contaminants and pathogens into these sections.
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