There is a significant interest in cultivation of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) as nutritious food, with the rise in its consumption. Thus, there is a need to compare different low-cost available substrates for its productivity in Afghanistan. In the present study, two substrates wheat straw and tree leaves along with their combination (1:1) as a single substrate were tested based on 10, 20 and 30 grams of spawn (wheat seeds mycelium growth). And the growth rate of fruiting bodies (fresh weight) were used for statistical analysis. When the wheat straw with 30 gr of wheat seeds spawn was used, resulted the highest yield (348 gr/Kg substrate). While the growth of the mushroom showed better result (273 gr/Kg substrate) on mixed substrates with 30 gr of spawn as compared with the third substrates in which consist of tree leaves + 30 gr of wheat seeds growth spawn (111gr/Kg substrate) indicating the lowest yield for P. ostreatus. This study, concluded that the wheat straw substrate had affected significantly positive on fresh weight, and its yield was higher when maximum dose of spawn applied. For the best of our knowledge this is the first study evaluated local substrates for cultivation of the mushroom in Afghanistan.
Genetic diversity assessment is the principle component for conservation and characterization of germplasm. Genetic diversity study of Afghan bread wheat genotypes is a first step to identify and to select high performance genotypes and distribute to wheat breeding programs. The main objective of this study is to investigate of genetic diversity in 35 Afghan bread wheat genotypes by using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) and Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) markers. DNA extraction according to Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) method was conducted and the total genomic DNA was isolated from each variety. Sixty-four SSR primer markers were used and eighteen EcoRI+(N)/MseI+(N) primer combinations with their primer sequences were used for selective polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Every SSR and AFLP fragment was scored as present (1) or absent (0) within all genotypes under study. Marker/ Value ratio of pairwise genetic distance between genotypes according to the SSRs data was from 0.508 to 0.691 with an average distance of 0.599. Relatively different grouping pattern in comparison to AFLP data observed through cluster analysis. Both types of molecular markers (AFLP and SSR) used in this research proved to be suitable for investigating genetic diversity in the genotypes of Afghan bread wheat, however, AFLP markers gave better view of genetically relationships among genotypes than the SSR markers. The grouping generated by AFLP data showed a special agreement with the origin regions of genotypes (Ariana-07 and Mazar-99 originating from the north of Afghanistan, Lalmi-03 and Kabul-02. Large number of DNA bands identified with AFLP markers might provide a better estimation of genetic similarity than those of SSR markers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.