Studies on cultivation, biological efficiency and chemical analysis of Pleurotus sajor‐caju (FR.) SINGER on different bio‐wastes

Abstract

AbstractThree different kinds of biomass, namely Populus deltoides, Eupatorium adenophorum and sericulture waste were used individually for the cultivation of Pleurotus sajor‐caju, alone and mixed with paddy straw. P. sajor‐caju, when used alone, exhibited a very good colonizing ability on these substrates, except in sericulture waste. The biological efficiency of P. deltoides and E. adenophorum when used as pure substrate was 75 and 77%, respectively, but it increased to 102% when P. sajor‐caju was cultivated in a mixture with paddy straw in a ratio of 1:2. Experiments examining the growth on sericulture waste in both pure and mixed substrate are encouraging. From the analysis of substrate before and after the cultivation of P. sajor‐caju it was noted that subsstrates were enriched in their protein content as a result of growth of this mushroom. The percentage of degradation of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin showed that P. sajor‐caju is capable of utilizing all three major components. The fruit bodies of P. sajor‐caju were analyzed for crude protein content, crude fat and carbohydrate content. The energy values in the fruit bodies of P. sajor‐caju and different organic wastes were found to vary from 282 to 309 kcal/100 g and from 319 to 467 kcal/100 g, respectively. It was found, however, that the energy recovery from organic wastes by fruit bodies was very low, i.e. 4.19‐8.73 kcal/100g of dry substrate.