Evaluation of Substrates for Production and Quality Characteristics of Oyster Mushrooms Pleurotus spp. Under Conditions of the Infection with Pathogenic Fungi

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the type of culture medium in the growth and production of the oyster mushroom Pleurotus spp. and the pathogenic fungi P. glabrum and T. longibrachiatum, the results showed that the medium of corn cob (CCA) - prepared in the laboratory - is one of the media that encourage the growth of pathogenic fungi and P. ostreatus, the diameter of both T. longibrachiatum and P. ostreatus colony reached 9 cm and reached 5.3 cm for P. glabrum and these diameters are the same as those recorded in the standard medium (MEA). The activity of laccase for oyster mushrooms P.ostreatus, P. pulmonarius and P. eryngii was significantly superior to 4.56, 4.02 and 3.7 unit/ml, respectively, compared to the lowest activity 0.89 and 1.32 units/ml which was recorded in pathogenic fungi P. glabrum and T. longibrachiatum, respectively. P. eryngii recorded the highest biological efficiency in the wheat straw inoculated with pathogen P. glabrum, reached to 64.67%, while the lowest biological efficiency was 5.56% of P. pulmonarius grown in corn cobs inoculated with the pathogen T. longibrachiatum. It is noted from the results that the highest infection percentages were 73.54, 74.34 and 75.78% in the corn cobs inoculated with the pathogen T. longibrachiatum, while the lowest infection was 17.37% in the rice husks inoculated with the P. glabrum. The results showed the superiority of the protein content in the fruit bodies of P. eryngii grown in the corn cobs inoculated with the pathogen P. glabrum which reached 30.27%, while the lowest protein content was recorded in the rice husks inoculated with T. longibrachiatum for all oyster mushrooms studied.