A thesis submit ted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1989

Two experiments based on t h e farmers ' identified problem on straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea ) productivity were conducted at AIT, a nd a formal survey o n straw mushroom production was conducted in Ban Na district of Nakhon Nayok province. Experiment I Experiment II dealt dealt with different bed with different substrate. size and the In the bed size experiment conducted n January/February, it was found that bed size affected bed temperature and production increased with bed size at a decreasing rate. The higher bed gave lower productivity than the low bed. In the experiment with different bed substrate conducted in February/March, it was found that long rice straw gave significantly higher productivity of straw mushroom over rice stubble and enable to conclude that long rice straw could b e the substituted material for bed substrate when stubble was not available in January or after harvest rice. For t h e formal survey conducted In April/May, it was found that the most influential factors in straw mushroom production function were a mount of spawn and stubble se . The most influential factors in productivity were spawn application rate and time of bed covering.