An Innovative Mechanical Intervention in Mushroom Cultivation for Mixing, Bag Filling of Substrates and Layer-Wise Spawn Addition

The focus of the study was to design, develop and evaluate first-of-its-kind mixing, bag filling and layer-wise spawn adding machine for mushroom cultivation. The efforts were directed to make it universal to accommodate different substrates. The mechanical interface comprised of main frame, feeding hopper, mixing section, reciprocating platform, spawn box and power transmission system. The feasibility was tested in terms of performance evaluation, economic assessment and comparative evaluation with existing methods. The optimization of working parameters revealed that 20 cm stroke length and 55 rpm resulted in mixing index of 0.33, bag filling capacity 200.3 bags h −1 , filling efficiency 70.68%, field capacity 876.5 kg h −1 , labour requirement 1.01 man-h ton −1 and specific mechanical energy of 0.304 kJ kg −1 for saw dust. The cost of fabrication and operational cost were estimated as Rs 29,250 and Rs. 182.12 h −1 , respectively. The benefit–cost ratio, breakeven point and payback period were calculated as 2.35:1, 92.2 tons and 488.5 h, respectively. The unit cost of bag filling was Rs. 0.83, Rs. 0.77 and Rs. 0.83 per bag for decomposed paddy straw, conditioned chinar leaves and saw dust. The study can help to shift from manual to mechanical mushroom cultivation system to reduce the cost of operation, income augmentation and employment generation through custom hiring.