Indoor cultivation. . Composts (growing media) were prepared using paddy straw and cotton waste. Paddy straw composting was done by soaking dried paddy straw (50 kg) in a 2% lime solution for four hours and excess water was allowed to drain. Paddy straw was spread on a clean cement flow (platform) as a thin layer. Urea (1%), gypsum (5%), measured on dry weight of paddy straw were evenly spread on the wetted straw and mixed well to prepare compost medium. A heap was built using the compost medium and it was covered by a black polythene tarp having 300 gauge. The heap was turned twice in two days intervals. Therefore, compost was ready to use after six days. The method of composting of cotton waste was similar to paddy straw and the excess water in soaked cotton waste was removed manually by squeezing.
A barrel-roof-type polythene house (length – 8 m, width – 3 m, height – 3m) was constructed using transparent polythene having 300 gauge. Pre-prepared compost layer was packed (15 cm thick) into a wooden frame (90 x 30 x 30 cm) and surface of the compost was inoculated with 125 g of spawn. The remaining 15 cm of the wooden frame was filled with same amount of compost and another 125 g of spawn was applied on the surface. Then the wooden frame was removed by pulling upwards remaining a block of inoculated compost. The same method was used for both paddy straw and cotton waste compost. The blocks were prepared keeping a 30 cm space between each bed. Finally, the blocks were covered with black polythene (300 gauge) for five days and afterwards removed for fruiting.