Substrate dependent growth optimization of Pleurotus florida mushroom on inexpensive substrates

The oyster mushroom (Pleurotus florida) is one of the cultivated edible mushrooms and has certain medicinal properties as well as economic and ecological values. Every year, massive amounts of ligno-cellulosic agricultural crop residues are produced worldwide, and not all of them are properly utilized. There are many ways of managing agricultural waste, one of which is mushroom cultivation. This study was conducted to compare the influence of selected consortiums of agricultural residues on the growth of Pleurotus florida. This species was cultivated on different combinations of substrates, viz., dried bread grass (Brachiaria brizantha), soybean straw, sawdust, rice straw, wheat straw, cotton straw, and sugarcane bagasse. Parameters such as height of stipe, girth of stipe, width of pileus, biological efficiency, and moisture content of fruiting bodies were evaluated. All the experiments were performed in triplicate. The supreme combination of substrates was found to be dried bread grass (8%), soybean straw (15%), saw dust (25%), rice straw (20%), wheat straw (15%), cotton straw (10%), and sugarcane bagasse (7%). This combination has given the best yield in terms of mean fresh weight of fruiting bodies (56.5 g), height of stipe (3.86 cm), girth of stipe (18.33 mm), and width of pileus (5.60 cm). The maximum biological efficiency was obtained 75.55%.