Growth performance of the mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus var. Florida on oil palm fruit bunch waste, sawdust and elephant grass straw

Abstract

The effects of three substrates, namely oil palm fruit bunch (Elaeis guineensis) waste, sawdust of obeche (Triplochiton scleroxylon) and elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) straw on the spawn running period, number and weight of pin heads and carpophores, number of flushes and biological efficiency (BE) of Pleurotus ostreatus var. florida were studied. Growth experiments were carried out for the period of three months. Mycelial culture of the mushroom was prepared on potato dextrose agar. Seven day-old cultures of the mushrooms were inoculated on sorghum grain for spawn preparation. Spawned Oil palm bunch waste (OPBFW), sawdust (SD) and grass straw (EGS) were incubated till complete ramification in five replicates. P. ostreatus var florida produced three flushes on the substrates. Primordia took a longer time to emerge from the SD (14 days) than on OPFBW (5days) and EGS (3 days) at p=0.05. The mushroom had significantly shortest spawn run period of 8 days on OPFBW but the lowest biological efficiency (BE) of 4.38%. EGS took 12 days with BE 13.32% and SD in day 30 with BE of 26.72% at p=0.05. Sawdust best supported the growth of the mushroom followed by EGS, making them good substrates for P. ostreatus var. florida cultivation.