The use of quality substrate and in the right amount, as well as the best mycelium breed adapted to the conditions, along with the required quality of casing does not necessarily provide the maximum yield. There must be a suitable microclimate conducive to obtaining the expected density of fruiting bodies and gradually, steadily growing ready for cropping to allow to collect the required amount of fruiting bodies at their maximum unit weight. There are new possibilities to support growing mushrooms, using the achievements of science and electronic devices, which are outlined below.
1.The uniformity and speed of air movement control system in the cultivation facility. If the air flow over the shelf is uneven and faster and / or slower than required, it may lead to under-utilization of the potential of the established crop. This problem can be solved, and the first basic requirement is the measurement of the air flow over each shelf. The result of the measurement should be taken into account by adjusting the air conditioner properly, which is to ensure the maintenance of selected parameters of microclimate within the required limits of air traffic over the casing. Currently, there are air motion sensors, at an affordable price, suitable for mushroom cultivation. They should be placed on the shelves just like temperature sensors in the substrate: obliquely from the upper shelf to the lower shelf in a row on the other, and vice versa. For example, with 10 shelves there should be 10 sensors. Their continuous measurement allows to adjust the holes in the sleeve, to make bottlenecks and axis arrangement. The sensors should have a program that simulates the movement of air in the facility and shows moments of loss of required balance. One sensor is placed 5 cm above the shelf along with the tip of the probe measuring the level of carbon dioxide. The program’s indications, and the sensors’ indications on the shelves allow for the actual measurement of the air flow over the casing or mushroom fruiting bodies and allow for, based on the set ranges, changes in air flow made by the conditioner’s navigating element.
2.The integration of microclimate control with mycelium, pins and mushroom fruiting bodies. The supervision and control over the mycelium behaviour on the surface of the casing, binding and growth in the fruiting pins require constant supervision. These activities due to the achievement of planned objectives such as the appropriate binding density and distribution of each generation of fruiting bodies are key. This is basically the most important task for the person responsible for the course of cultivation. The control is carried out periodically, typically every four hours, but only during the day. At night, due to the difficulties associated with the assessment of changes in the mushroom behaviour, as well as the organization of work, monitoring is not carried out. These difficulties are significant restrictions on the cultivation of mushrooms in large facilities that are not monitored by the owner. Therefore, it is proposed to develop a new type of controller. The existing controllers should be equipped with the aforementioned air flow control system, laser temperature sensors - measuring the temperature of casing surface, mycelium and fruiting pins - and a digital camera. This allows measurement of the actual evaporation off the aforementioned surface. The pictures taken by the digital camera would allow for the actual measurement of the change in casing, mycelium growth and pins in real time, and the appropriate software would directly regulate microclimate parameters required in order to maintain their growth.
3.The pins’ density control. The placement of digital cameras over the entire surface of the shelves allowsobservation of changes in real time and provide information on growth and fruiting pins to the controller to adjust the microclimate. In addition, the construction of a moving truck at the shelf and use of the image of the number and growth of pins would allow the removal of the excessive number using a laser gun point or by punctual application of hormone substance stimulating binding in accordance with the pre-set map of the distribution.
4.Fruiting bodies crop manual control. From time to time the information on the mushroom crop robotisation reaches us. This problem, however, is still unresolved. These difficulties arise from the choice of fruiting bodies to be collected in the first place, the fact that they are taken down from the shelf without damage and the size of the robot. The first problem can be solved only if adequately dense bonding of individually growing fruiting bodies is provided and of varying sizes. The second is to try and solve the problem by moving the shelf under the robot. This is a consequence of the single shelf cultivation system developed in the Netherlands. The main drawback of this approach is still high costs, which outside the Netherlands do not constitute a competition for manual harvesting. Can a different solution be suggested that would support the existing system of shelved and manual harvesting and the choice of fruiting bodies for cropping required using a robot? Such a system would consist of digital cameras placed on shelves, covering the entire surface of the shelves. This would allow for constant evaluation of fruiting pins’ behaviour, anticipate their growth over time and prediction when and which fruiting bodies should be harvested. This would allow on the one hand to control density, and the other cropping at an optimal time, in accordance with the principles of selective harvesting. The collecting device would receive information from a point indicator, suggesting which fruiting bodies should be harvested. This indicator would move along with it, setting its speed. After the collective device has passed, a cropping evaluation would then be carried out and an evaluation for making necessary improvements. The system would allow for accurate harvest planning, the deployment of personnel and evaluation of the work of individual collective devices.
The proposed solutions are relatively simple and do not storm the present order of cultivation. A separate issue will remain in the future and it refers to the support of feeding through the navigation of liquid feeding process.
