Abstract
The study is of great relevance with present day pandemic era where mushrooms have immunity enhancing properties and they convert agro-wastes into protein rich food. India is having a youth population of about 750 million and mushroom cultivation has good potential to contribute in national income as well as enhanced immunity. The key aspects undertaken during research were the spawn production, cultivation methodology, and the suitability of various factors affecting the production and yield attributes of Pleurotus eryngii under ambient conditions in subtropical areas. Study includes yield enhancing substrate, sterilization method, spawn and substrate quantity in the growing of King Oyster i.e. Pleurotus eryngii in subtropical zones. Paddy straw was found to be the best substrate giving the highest biological efficiency and producing maximum number of fruiting bodies which is otherwise burnt by farmers in India and it is a major cause of air pollution. Whereas, maize straw showed fastest spawn run and pin head emergence out of six tested substrates and supplements. But, due to the unavailability of paddy straw in this region, the other straws resulting in optimum yields are to be recommended. Chemical steeping of substrate with chlorine water at 0.4% + carbendazim at 2% + dichlorovos at 0.1% of water used for soaking showed best results in terms of biological efficiency whereas, water and aerated steam treatment of substrate at 85 °C-90°C for about 60–90 min supported the results in leaching of nutrients and thus, biological efficiency gets lower. Out of four spawn rates used, spawn rate of 5% was found significantly best resulting in maximum biological efficiency, fastest mycelial run, primordial initiation and highest average fruit body weight. All the experiments were found statistically significant except the experiment that was performed for evaluating the optimum quantity of substrate for bag preparation. There was not much difference in the obtained yields with respect to increase in the amounts of substrate. So, growing this mushroom from the obtained best results will result in better production with higher income even for the marginal farmers in subtropical zones of world.
Highlights
The most cultivated mushroom globally is Agaricus bisporus (Button mushroom) followed by Pleurotus sp. (Dhingri mushroom) that constitutes about 27% of the world’s cultivated mushrooms[1]
Maximum number of fruiting bodies (32.8) and the highest biological efficiency (88.4%) was obtained in case of paddy straw followed by wheat straw (76.7%) and maize straw (75%) (Fig. 3)
Among different substrates and supplements, paddy straw and wheat straw were found to be the best followed by maize straw
Summary
The most cultivated mushroom globally is Agaricus bisporus (Button mushroom) followed by Pleurotus sp. (Dhingri mushroom) that constitutes about 27% of the world’s cultivated mushrooms[1]. Cultivation of Pleurotus eryngii mushroom has been done on various agricultural and agro-industrial wastes in different parts of world including different sawdust, wheat straw, millet straw, soybean straw, cotton waste, peanut shells, sugarcane bagasse, wheat and rice b ran[8,10,11,12,13,14,15]. It is a biotechnological process which is one of the most efficient in recycling the lignocellulosic organic w astes[16]. It is a cholesterol-lowering dietary agent as it produces ergosterol and lanosterol and contains chemicals that boost the immune system and has anti-hypertensive, immune-modulating, antitumor, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-hypocholesterolemic, anti-hyperglycemic, antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and anti-osteoporotic effects[20]
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