Cultivation and chemical composition of the paddy-straw mushroom ( Volvariella volvaceae)

Abstract

The cultivation of the paddy-straw mushroom (Volvariella volvaceae) was investigated. Four spawn media for growing V. volvaceae were tested. The presence or absence of urea and the use of barley or sorghum had no effect on the mycelial growth. The addition of yeast extract to the barley grain medium gave heavy growth of mycelium as compared with other media. Seven different media were prepared for the cultivation of paddy-straw mushroom, using local materials such as orange juice waste, rice straw, bagasse, pea-canning waste, horse manure and molasses. The media containing orange juice waste, bagasse, rice straw, horse manure, molasses and urea gave the highest yields of mushroom (5.029 and 4.3 kg/m 2). The chemical analysis of mushrooms harvested from orange juice waste-bagasse medium was as follows (percentage on dry weight basis): 4.92 total nitrogen, 1.64 non-protein nitrogen, 2.71 ether extract, 17.4 crude fibre, 6.07 reducing sugars, 4.23 non-reducing sugars, 19.2 starch, 5.29 glycogen, 9.86 mannitol and 12.6 ash. Of fourteen amino acids present, seven are essential, while methionine, arginine, histidine and serine are absent. Tryptophan concentration ( 14.7 g 100 g protein) was higher than in any other wild mushroom or legume seed.