The Growth Morphology and Yield of Grey Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus sajor-caju) Subjected to Different Durations of Acoustic Sound Treatment

Abstract

Pleurotus sajor-caju (grey oyster mushroom) is a typical edible fleshy fungi. It has fruiting bodies shape like an oyster that contain high nutrient such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals and multivitamins. Due to its high nutritional values, the demand of grey oyster mushrooms keeps increasing. In this study, the effect of different durations and intervals of acoustic sound treatment on growth morphology, yield enhancement and the quality of the mushroom were studied. Using sound of fire cracker at constant intensity of 75 dB, four different acoustic sound treatments had been applied on the mushroom bags which were 5 pops at 5-day interval, 15 pops at 5-day interval, 5 pops at 10-day interval and 15 pops at 10-day interval and mushroom bags without any sound treatment acted as control. The results showed that the controls had longer time for mycellium to fill-up the bags compared to sound treated bags. Besides, controls also showed lower yield in terms of number of fruiting bodies and biological efficiencies (%) compared to all acoustic sound treated bags. However, 15 pops at 10-day interval had the shortest time taken to complete all the growth stages (mycellium growth, emergence of pinhead and formation of fruiting bodies). For colour of the mushroom, there were significant differences (P<0.05) in L* values for 15 pops at 5-day interval and no significant different (P>0.05) was observed for a* (redness) and b* (yellowness) values. Controls had the highest firmness value compared to mushroom with sound treatment. In summary, 15 pops at 10-day interval was the best treatment duration and interval as it took the shortest time for different growth stages with the greatest yield of mushrooms.