Automated microclimate for the cultivation of Pleurotus djamor mushrooms

The cultivation of edible mushrooms of the genus Pleurotus requires strict environmental conditions to ensure proper mycelial development and efficient fructification. In particular, Pleurotus djamor exhibits high sensitivity to variations in temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, and lighting, which limits its production under artisanal cultivation methods. This work presents the design, implementation, and experimental evaluation of an automated microclimate control system applied to the cultivation of Pleurotus djamor. The proposed system integrates an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, environmental sensors for measuring temperature, relative humidity, and CO₂ concentration, as well as actuators for controlling mist irrigation, ventilation, heating, and specific LED lighting. A hierarchical control strategy with differentiated operating modes for the incubation and fructification stages was implemented, along with remote monitoring through mobile interfaces and instant messaging services. Experimental results demonstrated that the automated system maintained the environmental variables within the optimal ranges established for each cultivation stage, with deviations below ±1% with respect to the reference values. Compared to an artisanal control system, the automated system increased the total production of fruiting bodies from 0.451 kg to 2.49 kg and raised the biological efficiency from 15.03% to 83%. In addition, a significant improvement in the sensory quality of the harvested mushrooms was observed. These results confirm that automatic microclimate control represents an efficient, reproducible, and low-cost alternative for optimizing the cultivation of Pleurotus djamor, with potential applications in small and medium scale production systems.