IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2023) 14-2

Research article
erdExperiment on Smart Mushroom Cultivation Using an
Environmental Control System
CHANRENG SEY NHIM*
Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: nhimchanrengsey@gmail.com

NITA CHEK
Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

CHANTHAN HEL
Research and Innovation Center, Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

ROTHNA PEC
Research and Innovation Center, Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Received 12 September 2023

Accepted 29 December 2023(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract The purpose of this research was to implement smart mushroom cultivation by
applying a sensor network and control algorithm to test the performance of the cultivation
system and yield obtained compared to the conventional method. This research introduced
innovative automated methods to the cultivation of rice-straw mushrooms by utilizing sensor
technology and a controller with a control algorithm. The control algorithm automaticallycontrolled the environment in the mushroom house based on feedback from the sensors tomaintain the environment in an optimum condition for mushroom growth. The experimental
setup included two cycles for growing the rice-straw mushrooms in different control
environments, with three stages per cycle. The first stage was used during the vegetative
phase, the second stage was used to control mushroom growth during the spawn-run phase,
while the last stage was applied during the pinhead and cropping phases. The first cycle ofthe experiment was implemented to verify the circumstances surrounding mushroom growthunder automated control based on three parameters: ambient temperature, relative humidity,
and carbon dioxide (CO2). The experiment utilized one controller with four pieces ofequipment to automate control based on those parameters, which included the ventilation fan,exhaust fan, sprinkler, and motor pump for the cooling pad. During the first cycle, someproblems with the CO2 sensor and the exhaust fan were encountered, so it was necessary to
implement a combination of manual control and automated control in the controllingalgorithm for the second cycle. After completing these experiments, we determined thatutilizing a combination of automatic and manual control, mushroom farmers will be able tosave time, money, and labor while also increasing mushroom yield to satisfy market demand.
Keywords smart mushroom cultivation, rice-straw mushroom, automation control system,
automation technology, environmental control system.

INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is the most critical sector of the Cambodian economy in terms of its contribution to theGross Domestic Product (GDP) because most of the population are farmers (Encyclopedia Britannica,2021). Nowadays, most farmers in Cambodia are trying to evolve farming into modern agricultural
techniques (Fosbenner, 2018). With the help of various technologies, agriculture has gotten moreconvenient while also producing higher yields to meet the demand for supplies. Among otheragriculture sectors, the mushroom industry is still done in a very traditional way, which restricts
production capacity and prevents it from producing enough yield to support both the farmer and theⒸ ISERD

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country's economy. As a result of these factors, it is essential to modernize the facilities to maximize
production through the most efficient use of resources.
The main purpose of this research is to apply automation technology to the production of ricestraw mushrooms by utilizing sensor technology such as a Temperature sensor, Humidity sensor,
CO2 sensor, and a controller with a control algorithm that can control the devices in the mushroom
house and automatically based on feedback from the sensors to maintain the environment in an
optimum condition for mushroom growth. This experiment's goal is to test the performance of thesystem and the yields obtained compared to the conventional method.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Experimental Setup
The smart mushroom house is constructed with dimensions of 5 meters by 6 meters (5 m × 6 m)
which is equal to 30 square meters (32 m2). The bamboo trees used to build the mushroom trays are
1.6 meters by 4 meters (1.6 m × 4 m) or 6.4 square meters (6.4 m2), and there are ten trays altogether
as shown in Fig. 1. One motor pump, one cooling pad, one exhaust fan, a shrinker system, a control
panel, and monitoring sensors such as a temperature and humidity sensor and a CO2 sensor were all
included in the smart mushroom house's control equipment. The surrounding area is constructed ofplastic. The ventilation fan is placed against the mushroom house wall above the door and faces theexhaust fan on the other side. The motor is mounted over the cooling pad that leans up against thewall, and the shrinker system is equipped around the mushroom house's corner.

Fig. 1 Smart mushroom house simulation in 3D viewEnvironmental Requirement
Normally, the Rice Straw Mushroom grows in warm weather, typically in the tropics and sub-tropics.
The optimal temperature for rice straw mushrooms to grow in mycelial is from 28°C to 30°C for its
fruiting body production. where the ideal temperature for growing mushrooms is between 25°C and
40°C (Fasidi, 1996). The ideal humidity range for rice straw mushroom growth is between 70% and
90% (Bawis, 2014). While other research claimed that the mushroom's humidity might reach 99%.
Additionally, the level of carbon dioxide ranges from 1000 to 2000 ppm.
Mushroom Substrate
In our case study, several materials, including rice straw, mung bean shells, rice bran, sugarcane(black sugar), limestone, and gypsum, have been employed to create the compost or substrate. The
process of making this compost will take around six to seven days. First, the rice straw and mungbean shell will need to be soaked for at least a night to make them soft, then drain before mixing withlimestone water. After combining these three ingredients, it must be fermented once more for a totalof six days, with two days of re-mixing. The remaining components must be combined after six days
and fermented for one night before use.

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Table 1 Ingredients for substrate
Ingredients
Rice Straw
Mung Bean Shell
Rice Bran/ Wheat
Sugarcane (Black Sugar)
Limestone
GypsumTotal

Amount (kg)
400.0
150.0
50.0
2.0
5.5
3.0
610.5

Table 2 Parameter requirements during each stage
Parameters
Temperature (°C)
Relative Humidity (%)
CO2 (ppm)

Stage I
29-36
100
>1500

Stage II

Stage III

32-36
92-96
<1500

26-33
86-92
<1500

System Overview
The Smart Mushroom House has been equipped with all components and sensors, including a solar
panel, a battery (Power Can), a circuit breaker, a transformer, a motor pump, a cooling pad, an
exhaust fan, a ventilation fan, a sprinkler, a Honeywell ambient temperature and humidity sensor, a
Honeywell carbon dioxide sensor, and a Honeywell controller (CIPer Model 50). To do theconfiguration, we must first ensure that the controller is powered with the appropriate current andvoltage. Since the controller and the sensors require 24 VDC or VAC to work, but the standard rangeof electrical power is 220 VAC, a transformer is required to convert 220 VAC to 24 VAC for thecontroller.
The rice-straw mushroom grows in four stages, including the vegetative phase, spawn run, pinhead initiation, and cropping mode. We have decided to divide the controlling stage into three stages.
The first stage is to manage the vegetative phase which the temperature will stay between 32°C and
36°C. The second stage is to manage the system during the spawn run which the temperature will
persist between 32°C and 36°C, the relative humidity stays between 92% and 96%, and the carbon
dioxide stays at about 1500 ppm. The last is to handle the system during the pin head initiation andcropping mode, in which the temperature will stay between 26 and 33°C, the relative humidity willremain between 85% and 92% RH, and carbon dioxide will remain at about 1000 ppm. Also, we
have decided to test in 2 cycles. The first cycle is in March, and the second cycle is in May because
both months have similar weather and it is easier for us to study since both cycles use different
configurations to test the differences between each condition.

Fig. 2 System architecture of smart mushroom houseⒸ ISERD

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Experiment for 1st Cycle
After setting up all the controllers and assigned points, it needs to configure each step of mushroom
cultivation to obtain and control the environment inside the mushroom home to its excellent
condition during its growth stage.
The mushroom must be in stage I (vegetative phase), where the temperature must range from
29°C to 36°C, the humidity must range from 92% to 96%, and the CO2 level must be less than 10000
ppm. In this case, the configuration follows the flowchart as shown in Fig. 3. below. It indicates that
the Exhaust Fan and Sprinkler will activate whenever the temperature rises above 36°C and remainon until the ambient temperature falls below 36°C. The time required for this stage is approximately
3-4 days before we can see the spawn running through the compost and appearing as a thin white
thread.

Fig. 3 Flowchart of stage I configuration
Under stage II (spawn run), the mushroom must grow in conditions with a CO2 level of less than
1500 ppm, a temperature range of 29°C to 36°C, and a relative humidity range of 92% to 96%. In
this case, the system configuration follows the flowchart as shown in Fig. 4. In this stage, thecontroller will read data from all three sensors, and based on that data, it will control the system. For
example, if the temperature rises above 36 °C, the sprinkler and exhaust fan will turn on until thetemperature falls below 36 °C. Additionally, if the relative humidity rises above 96% RH, the system
will automatically switch on the ventilation and exhaust fans until the humidity returns to its typicalrange of 92-96%. In this situation, if the relative humidity falls below 92%, the system willautomatically turn on the spray and motor for the mushroom house to hydrate the compost and moist
the air, as too much dryness will prevent the compost from producing much output. The controller
will also read information from the CO2 sensor when the CO2 level rises above 1500 ppm, the system
will activate the exhaust fan to draw in the fresh air and the ventilation fan to circulate the air inside
the mushroom house so that it is all the same. The time required for this stage is approximately 3-4
days before we can see the little thread that will eventually grow into a mushroom leg rising fromthe spawn that spread during the earlier stage.

Fig. 4 Flowchart of stage II configuration
Stage III includes the pin head initiation and cropping mode. The ambient temperature must be
between 29°C and 33°C, the relative humidity must range from 92% to 96%, and the CO2 level mustbe less than 1000 ppm for the mushroom to thrive. The flowchart illustrates the system configurationⒸ ISERD

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in this condition as shown in Fig. 5. The configuration for this stage is the same as the previous stage,
but there are differences between the fixed static variables that we input in the temperature, humidity,
and CO2 sensors. The controller will read the parameters from all three sensors and control the system
based on those data. For example, if the temperature rises above 33°C, the sprinkler and exhaust fan
will turn on until the temperature drops below 33°C. When relative humidity rises above 92%, thesystem automatically turns on the ventilation and exhaust fans until the humidity falls below thetypical range of 85% to 92%. In this condition, the system will automatically turn on the spray andmotor for the mushroom house if the relative humidity falls below 85% in exchange for hydrating
the compost and moistening the air, as too much dryness will prevent the compost from producing
much yield. The controller will also read data from the carbon dioxide sensor, and when the CO2level rises above 1000 ppm, the system activates the exhaust fan to filter out the fresh air and theventilation fan to circulate the air inside the mushroom house so that it is equally heated and cooled.
The time required for this stage is approximately six to seven days since the little mushroom mustfirst grow to the point where its head is an egg shape.

Fig. 5 Flowchart of stage III configuration
Experiment for 2nd Cycle
Based on the results from the first cycle of the experiment, we encountered some problems with thecarbon dioxide sensor and the exhaust fan, which caused the compost to become excessively dry andprovide less yield than expected. To find a solution, we come up with another configuration in which
we will use scheduling time to regulate the exhaust fan to turn on for five minutes and three times a
day during stage II (spawn run) because in stage II the mushroom does not require too much oxygenfrom outside and the air does not require to ventilation much. Additionally, because mushrooms needfrequent ventilation during stage III and require more fresh air to grow, the scheduling time for thesestages was adjusted to five minutes every hour or 24 times per day. In addition to fixing the problem,
we also have installed another two sensors, including an ambient temperature and relative humidity
sensor and a carbon dioxide sensor outside the mushroom house to compare the environment outside
and inside the mushroom house.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Results of 1st Cycle
The stage I configuration has turned on and the system has been running based on the design
algorithm. During this process, the temperature has never risen above 36°C which is the set point toturn on the exhaust fan and spray. It means that the environment inside the mushroom house has
stayed under our control. When it reached the pin head stage, the stage II configuration system turned
on, and we can see that the temperature during this stage increased by 36°C, allowing our control
system to turn on the exhaust fan and spray. After both components were turned on, we observedthat the temperature decreased below 36°C. The ventilation fan and exhaust fan have been turningon when the CO2 level has risen above 1500 ppm and turning off when it has fallen below 1500 ppm.
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However, this procedure has made both components run inexorably because the CO2 level rarely
stays below 1500 ppm. The problem with our sensor's response time is that it responded too late,which causes problems for our system. During stage III of the control process, the set points fortemperature, CO2, and relative humidity are 33°C, 1000 ppm, and 92%, respectively. However, thereceived data have all exceeded the set points of all parameters, which makes all of the mushroom
house's components turn on unstoppable. With this issue, we have decided to turn off the automatic
system and use the manual system instead.
With the results from the first cycle, we harvested a total yield of 80 kg with a total substrate
weight of 610 kg, which represents a percent of 0.13%, or 0.13 kg of rice straw mushrooms per
kilogram of the substrate. According to the standard, 10 kg of dried straw yields 2 kg. Our yield isless than 0.7 kg compared to the standard because some errors also happened during the growing
process (Gummert, 2022). The CO2 sensor that we utilized has caused errors in the data flow, causing
the receiving data to be delayed and the ventilation and exhaust fans to operate automatically basedon configuration, drying up the compost and producing less yield.
Results of 2nd Cycle
The only difference between the received data and the first cycle of control from stage I to stage III
is that the relative humidity has reached 99%, causing our exhaust fan and ventilation fan to run
nonstop following the stage configuration and causing the compost to become too dry. Regarding
this issue, we have set the set point to 99% in stage II and stage III configurations in favor of
activating the exhaust fan and ventilation fan. As previously mentioned, the second cycle's stage IItemperature set point is the same as the first cycle, but the humidity only remains at 99%, which ishigher than the set point of the first cycle, so we changed the set point of the second cycle to 99%
instead to prevent the control the environment inside the mushroom better. The ventilation andexhaust fans were not directly controlled by the CO2 level during this stage because we already had
a schedule for when to turn them on and off. During stage III, the process is the same as the firstcycle but we have only added the scheduled time to turn on and off the exhaust fan and ventilation
fan every five minutes.
With the second cycle implementation, we harvested the rice straw mushroom with a total yieldof 85 kg and a total substrate of 610 kg, which equals a percent of 0.14%, which means that one kiloof the substrate produces 0.14 kg of rice straw mushroom. There were still a few errors that happened
between these stages where the humidity sensor reading was above 99% RH, causing the ventilation
fan and exhaust fan to run continuously in accordance with the stage setting, drying out the compost.
CONCLUSION
Based on the results of both cycles, we can compare the configuration and yield and find that thesecond cycle is a little better than the first cycle, which generated more than 5 kg of rice straw
mushrooms. With both results, we have discovered and faced some obstacles regarding the exhaustfan, ventilation fan, CO2 sensor, and humidity sensor. Even though there were a few issues with theexperiment, this is not the end of the research. We have recommended a different configuration toassist in resolving the issue. Since some sensors were not capable of the system, we will replace thoseand do another config algorithm to help upgrade the systems. This study is focused on figuring out
the best control algorithm for the mushroom house. It is also possible to estimate and analyze theaccuracy of real-time data using the data collected from all the sensors. The data achieved in thisstudy have to be regarded as a significant input for subsequent research on the issue that cropped up
during the testing phase to make the system more stable and dependable. Applying both automatedcontrol and manual control has helped local farmers save their labor, money, and time and create
products of the mushroom to meet the demand of the market.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was funded by the Cambodia Higher Education Improvement Project (Credit No. 6221KH) and the Laboratory-Based Education Project.
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