VESSEL FOR SEED FUNGUS CULTIVATION OR BOTTLE CULTIVATION OF MUSHROOMS

RECIPIENT POUR LA CULTURE DES CHAMPIGNONS

English Abstract

ABSTRACT
A vessel for cultivating mushrooms comprises a container and a cover
for the container. When the vessel is in a closed condition, air is permitted
to pass into the vessel only through a porous plastics film material extending
over an aperture in either the container or the cover. The film material is
permeable to gas but impermeable to bacteria and microbes infectious to
mushroom culture.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A polypropylene bottle equipped with a screw-type cap, said bottle
having at least one opening in an upper lateral wall thereof, said opening
being sealed with a polypropylene microporous film reinforced with a non-
woven polypropylene web, said reinforced film being gas-permeable but prevent-
ing the passage of bacteria whereby said bottle is suitable for use in sea
fungus cultivation or bottle cultivation of mushrooms.

Description

The present invention relates to a novel air~permeable
vessel which is suitable for use in fungus bed cultivation of
mushrooms.
Hitherto for cultivating mushrooms, so-called wood
material cultivation has been used, employing wood materials such
as Quercus serrata and Quercus gladulifera. Recently however
fungus bed cultivation has been extensively used, which provides
shorter cultivation times. One method for carrying out fungus bed
cultivation uses a vessel comprising a container and a cover
therefor, e.g. a bottle made of plastics material and a cap
therefore. Such bottles utilizing fungus bed cultivation have been
extensively used to cultivate mushrooms including Collybia Velutipes,
Pholiota Mutabilis, Pleurotus Ostreatus and Amanita Caesarea.
In one such vessel a cotton plug is inserted in an aperture in
the cap whereby air permeates into the container only through the
cotton plug.
However such a method employing a cotton plug has the
following drawbacks:
1) A considerable amount of skill is required for applying the
plug properly;
2) Infectious microbes can in fact intrude from the cotton plug,
; resulting in up to 30% of re~ects;
3) It is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain the special
type of cotton used for the plug.
The present invention provides a polypropylene bottle
equipped with a screw-type cap, said bottle having at least one
opening in an upper lateral wall thereof, said opening being
sealed with a polypropylene microporous film reinforced with a
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non-woven polypropylene web, said reinforced film being gas-
permeable but preventing the passage of bacteria whereby said
bottle is suitable for use in sea fungus cultivation or bottle
cultivation of mushrooms.
In general the pore size of pores in the plastics film
is such as to prevent permeation therethrough of bacteria or
infectious microbes which would cause contamination during the
growing of mushrooms. Thus a pore cliameter of 0.01 to 1 ~ may
be used, a pore diameter of 0.0 to 0.4 ~ being preferred. In some
circumstances, e.g. when the pores meander through the film, a
diameter of 10 ~ may be suitable for obtaining the object of the
invention.
A commercially available microporous polypropylene film
reinforced with a non-woven polypropylene web suitable for use in
the present invention is obtainable under the Trade Mark DURAGARD,
marketed by Polyplastics Co. and which has elongate micropores
of 0.4 ~ maximum major diameter.
In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a prior
art vessel and exemplary embodiments of the present invention:
Figure 1 is a cross section of a prior art vessel; f
Figure 2 is a cross section of a vessel forming one
embodiment of the present invention; and
,
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Figures 3 to 6 are cross sections of other vessels forming
respective embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 1 illustrates the previously described prior art vessel
wherein a cotton plug 3 is inserted in an aperture 2 in the cap 1 so that air
permeates into the vessel only through the cotton plug.
Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment of a bottle according to the
invention where an aperture 5 is provided :in the wall 4 of the plastics bot-
tle, and a porous film 6 is attached to an adhesive layer 7 provided around
the periphery of the said aperture 5. The aperture 5 is preferably disposed
at a level above a culture 8 contained in the bottle.
Figure 3 illustrates a further embodiment in which a porous film 11
is attached to the inner side of a screw-cap 9 of the bottle, which cap
contains an aperture 10, by an adhesive layer 12 provided around the total
periphery of the aperture. The porous film 11 may if desired be attached
directly to the cover 9 by thermal adhesion.
Figure 4 illustrates another embodiment in which the screw-cap 9 of
the bottle contains an aperture 10, and a porous film 14 is supported between
the cap and the bottle top between two packing materials 13 and 13', attached
to the film.
Figure 5 illustrates a further embodiment wherein the screw-cap of
the bottle contains an aperture 10, and the porous film is attached to an
inner cover 15 in the form of an annular support and a porous film 18 is
attached onto an adhering layer 17 provided around the total periphery of the
aperture 16.
In the above embodiments, the porous film may, if desired, be at-
tached to the bottle or cap by thermal adhesion.
Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment where, in a bottle of which a
screw-cap 9 contains an aperture 10, and a porous film 19 is inserted into
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the aperture lO with a flexible plug 21 containing an axial aperture 20.
An example of the use of the container according to the invention
is hereinafter provided.
500 g of a culture obtained by mixing sawdust of a deciduous tree
with rice bran in a mixing ratio by volume of 4 : 1 and adding water to
provide a water content of about 60%, was introduced in each of lO0 culti-
vation bottles of polypropylene having a volume of 1000 cc, and thereafter a
cap of polypropylene as shown in Figure 3, having the opening part thereof
sealed with a film of DURAGARD ~510 was screwed on. The bottles were then
sterilized at 120C for one hour. After the temperature of the sterilized
bottles reached 30C or lower, a seed fungus of Collybia Velutipes was in-
oculated into the culture within the bottles. Culture was then continued at
18 to 20C for 25 days. Thereafter the steps of scratch of fungus, inhibition,
growth, and paper-wrapping were carried out in conventional manner, and the
cropping of the mushrooms was carried out 35 days after the cultivation step.
The same cultivation was carried out with cultivation bottles employing a
conventional cotton plug. With the bottles according to the invention no
contamination by infectious microbes was observed, whereas when using the
cultivation bottles employing a co~ton plug, it was observed that 21 bottles
of the 100 bottles used were contaminated.