Mycelium running of Volvariella volvacea on palm oil empty fruit bunch fibre following different substrate and mycelium treatment

Abstract

Leading the palm oil industry, Malaysia strives to become the powerhouse of palm oil producers. However, it is crucial that the industry does not influence the environment negatively in any way. Thus, reusing and repurposing palm oil residues in mushroom farming is one of the potential solutions for agricultural waste management. In this study, the objective of this study is to determine the mycelial performance of V. volvacea in palm oil empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibre as substrate and to evaluate the mycelial growth performance of V. volvacea in two different substrate treatment. The substrate treatment involved the non-treated EFB fibres (N substrate) and EFB fibres treated with 10% Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) (T substrate), and mycelium treatment involved in gamma-irradiated mycelium (G sample) and non-irradiated mycelium (NG sample). Results shows that mycelium inoculated on treated EFB fibres exhibited a higher growth rate compared to non-treated EFB fibres. The full colonization days of mycelial run-on substrate using treated substrate was found reduced from 15 days to 9 days, as compared to the non-treated substrate. However, gamma irradiated mycelium was found giving no significant changes to the rate of mycelial run. In conclusion, substrate treated with CaCO3, increased the growth of mycelium. In future, it is suggested to measure the effect of irradiation using different gamma irradiation exposure.