Effect of wheat straw components on the yield of Pleurotus eous

Pleurotus is commonly known as Oyster mushroom. It can be cultivate on wide range of agro-waste (Poppe, 2004). Most of these wastes have a C/N ratio between 32 and 600 and a P^H 5.0 and 7.5 (Poppe, 2000). A lot of work has been done in India and abroad for Pleurotus cultivation on various kinds of agro-wastes like cereal and millet waste (Rai, 1997;  Sharma, 2003; Siddhant et.al. 2009), pulses and oil crop waste (Jain and Vyas, 2005; Nivedita and Singh, 2004), vegetable and fruit waste (Yoshikawa and Tsuetaki, 1979; Poppe, 2004), beverage and sugarcane crop waste (Chandrashekar et.al. 2001; Moda, 2005), cotton and palm waste (Pani et.al. 1997; Croan, 2000; Shah et.al. 2004), wood and wood products (Das et.al. 2000; Singh and Kaushal, 2001), grasses and weeds (Poppe, 1995; Negi and Gupta, 1995; Kumar et.al. 2000; Singh et al. 1991, Poppe, 2004) ect at different time interval. Although, on the commercial scale, only few of them have been accepted for its cultivation. Among them, wheat straw is one of the popular substrate which is obtained from the threshing of harvested wheat crop. It is composed of pieces of stem (S), leaves (L) and leaf sheath (LS). In present communication, these were assessed for the yield potential of pink oyster mushroom Pleurotus eous. 

Cultivation methodology:

Micro-organism:
The pure culture of Pleurotus eous (Berk) Sacc. was obtained from the mushroom section of Plant Pathology Department, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur (U.P.) India. The culture was maintained and subcultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium.

Spawn strategy:

Wheat grains (Triticum aestivum) were used as a spawn substrate. The spawn was prepared by conventional method. 

Substrate preparation:

           Different component of wheat straw, viz., fine pieces of L and LS (0.2 cm),  coarse pieces of L and LS (0.4cm), small pieces of stem (1.0cm) and  large pieces of stem(1.7 cm) were washed separately in fresh water and then pasteurized in the solution of Formaldehyde (500ppm) and Bavistin (75ppm) for 18 hours as recommended by Vijay and Sohi (1987).

Mushroom cultivation:

The beds were prepared from pasteurized substrate by layer spawning following the procedure of Bano (1971). These were incubated in a cultivation room at 22-30°C for spawn running. When mycelium had completely covered the beds, the polythene covering was taken off and the relative humidity was maintained 85-95 %  with the help of humidifier. The yield parameters recorded were, time lapsed in spawn running, pin head initiation and maturity of fruit bodies, number of flushes, yield and biological efficiency. The biological efficiency was expressed as percentage yield of fresh mushrooms in relation to the dry weight of the substrate according to Chang and Miles (1989).

Statistical analysis:

Completely randomized design (CRD) was followed for the experiment. All data were statistically analysed. The critical difference (CD) processed at the five per cent probability level.

Results and Discussion: 

The component had variable effects on duration of spawn running, pinning and fruit body maturation, which ranged from 15-24 days, 18-29 days and 22-34 days, respectively (Table). The fine and coarse component i.e. pieces of leaf and leaf sheath took longer duration in aforesaid manifestations. It was due to less air space available and much water holding capacity of the substrate particles. They also showed decrease in yield with greater incidence of contamination. Low biological efficiency of mushrooms might be due to less food material available in L & LS while susceptibility against contaminants was possibly due to presence of dust particles that provide inoculum for the development of competitors. 

Average of three replication

        Table: Effect of wheat straw components on mushroom yield

The highest yield was obtained from the small and large pieces of stem with 341 g, 68.2% and 336 g, 67.2 %, respectively. Statistically, these were at par to each other. Absence of contaminants along with higher yield revealed the importance of these components. ([PDF] from ijcmas.com)

References: 

• Bano, Z. 1971. Cultivation of Pleurotus flabellatus. Second Int. Symp. Pl. Pathol., New Delhi. (Abstract No. 135).
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• Chang, S.T. and P.G. Miles. 1989. Edible mushrooms and their cultivation, CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp. 256-274.
• Croan, S.C. (2000): Conversion of wood waste into value-added products by edible and medicinal Pleurotus (F.) P. Karst. Species (Agaricales  s.l., Basidiomycetes). International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms 2:73-80.
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Cite this as: 

Siddhant, Swapanil Yadav, Aquil Ahmad and C.S. Singh (2013). Effect of wheat straw components on the yield of Pleurotus eous. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Science. 2(8):221-225.