Yield Response of Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) Cultivated on Creeping Bent Grass (Agrostis sp) Biomass Supplemented with Wheat Bran, Cotton Seed and Waste Paper

Abstract

Nowadays more attention has been given to mushroom production as new sources of nutrients, medicinal uses; especially for degenerative diseases and environmental sustainability through solid organic waste recycling. The yield of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) grown on the substrate composed from creeping bent grass (Agrostis sp.) waste paper, wheat bran supplemented with cotton seed waste indicated the positive response of this plant. The experimental design constitutes ten treatments (T1-T10) in three replicates from the middle of March 2018 to the end of May 2018. Fastest mycelia colonization was observed in the treatments T10, T9, T8 and T7, 11 days each from inoculation, while the slowest mycelia colonization was observed in treatment T1, T2, T3 and T4, 15 days each from inoculation. Relatively, longest production cycle was observed for treatment T1, T2 and T3: 53 days each, while the shortest production cycle was recorded for treatment T10, T9, T8 and T7: 45days. Highest fresh weight 2050g per 800g dry substrate; highest number of fruits, 85 and largest cap diameter 12cm were  recorded for treatment T10. The lowest total fresh weight 1590g per 800 g dry weight of the substrate was recorded for the treatments T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively.  Lowest number of fruits( 58)was recorded for T1, and smaller cap diameter, 8cm was recorded for T5. The highest number of aborts were observed  for T4 and T9, while the least number with T1. No significant difference was observed for the stipe length and number of bunches of the different treatments. Highest biological efficiency, 250 % was recorded for T10 and the lowest 197 % each for T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5. The study reveals that less proportion of creeping bent grass (Agrostis sp.) biomass together with high proportion of cotton seed waste and equal amount of wheat bran and waste paper as substratum is ideal for growing the oyster mushroom.

Keywords/phrases: Creeping bent grass, cotton seed waste, oyster mushroom, waste paper, yield