Influence of 50 Hz magnetic field on growth of mushroom species: shitake (lentinus edodes) and oyster (pleurotus astreatus)

Investigation on effects of electromagnetic fields on different aspects of biological systems had been done by much research. Our study, which has been carried out under the joint research between the Laboratory of High voltage and High current Engineering and Laboratory of Microbiology of the Institut Teknologi Bandung, investigates the influence of 50 Hz magnetic field on the growth of several species of mushroom. In this study, we observed growth of mushroom, from spora up to fully ripe stages, under magnetic field exposure of different intensity from 0.1 mT to 1.7 mT. During exposure the room condition was held constant at temperature of 20°C and 95% humidity. We noted that some parameters such as: mushroom growth velocity, shape, dimension, quantity, color and period of mushroom ovary are significantly influenced by magnetic energy absorbed