Abstract
Pineapple rind is a by‐product of the pineapple processing industry and contains nutrients and other compounds which must be utilized as a bioresource for socio‐economic benefits while preventing the potential problems of improper agroindustrial biomass disposal methods. Pleurotus ostreatus is an edible oyster mushroom with medicinal properties and can be cultivated on various agroindustrial biomass, including sawdust containing supplements. Pineapple rind was powdered and used as a supplement of composted sawdust at 2%, 5%, 10%, 12%, 15%, and 20% (w/w) on dry weight basis. A control treatment consisted of composted sawdust supplemented with rice bran at 12% (the most utilized composition in Ghana). P. ostreatus strain EM‐1 was cultivated on these treatments. Factors investigated included the spawn run period, yield, fruiting body weight and size, biological efficiency, and nutritional composition (proximate composition and Copper, Zinc and Lead content) of fruiting bodies harvested from selected high‐yielding treatments and the control treatment. Full colonization of all treatments occurred by the 34th day of incubation. Enhanced yield, fruiting body weight and size, and biological efficiency were generally recorded with supplementation at lower concentrations (2% and 5%) compared to treatments supplemented at higher concentrations. There was also a supplement concentration‐dependent alteration of the nutritional composition of the mushroom. Powdered pineapple rind can be utilized as an organic supplement at relatively low concentrations in composted sawdust for P. ostreatus strain EM‐1 cultivation. The use of lower concentrations of powdered pineapple rind in composted sawdust is advantageous as relatively less input will be required to produce higher P. ostreatus strain EM‐1 yields. Utilization of pineapple rind for mushroom cultivation will extend the pineapple plant value chain, intensify mushroom production in a sustainable way, and minimize agricultural losses.
Highlights
Ghana’s horticultural export market expanded extensively over a period of 10 years with pineapple (Ananas comosus) championing this market
Moisture content of all the treatments was relatively lower than the optimal moisture content required for P. ostreatus cultivation (85%–95%) (Stamets, 2000)
Thomas, Prabhu, Reeny, and Bopaiah (1998) have reported that the yield of the mushroom is directly related to the spread of mycelium into the substrate, our results demonstrate that the trends for mycelia extension and fruiting body yield differ
Summary
Ghana’s horticultural export market expanded extensively over a period of 10 years with pineapple (Ananas comosus) championing this market. With the exception of the nutritional composition, which was determined in replicates of the total yields obtained from respective treatments, all other analyses were conducted with five randomly selected replicates. The mean total number of fruiting bodies obtained per bag during the cropping period ranged from 17 to 25.
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