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- OpenAccess
Growth and Yield Response of Oyster Mushroom (＂Pleurotus ostreatus＂) Grown on Different Locally Available Substrates
並列摘要
Oyster mushroom (＂Pleurotus ostreatus＂) production is low despite its high demand in Swaziland. Most communal farmers dispose of their agricultural waste while it can be used usefully as substrates for the production of mushrooms. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of different agricultural wastes used as mushroom substrates on growth, development and yield of mushroom. The substrates investigated were banana leaves, sugarcane tops, maize stover and maize stover and cobs (1:1 dry mass/dry mass). The study was conducted at the University of Swaziland, Faculty of Agriculture-Luyengo Campus, at the Crop Production's mushroom laboratory. Sterilization of substrates was done at the Malkerns Research station. ＂Pleurotus ostreatus＂ was evaluated for growth and yield using four replicate bags of sugarcane tops, maize stover, maize stover and cobs and banana leaves as substrates. The moist substrates were sterilised, packed in heat-resistant plastic bags, seeded with 2-4% spawn and incubated for 3-3.5 months. Yield of each mushroom flush, marketable yield, pileus diameter and stipe length were measured and recorded. For the first flash the significantly (p＜0.05) highest yield was obtained from maize stover and cobs followed in decreasing order by banana leaves, sugarcane tops and lastly maize stover gave the least yield. The trend was similar for the second and third flash except that in the third flash sugar cane tops produced mushroom of higher yield than banana leaves, similar trends were measured for the other mushroom attributes. The maize stover and cobs substrate gave the highest yield which was 221.7, 189.2 and 107.9 g in the first, second and third flashes, respectively.