An Economical and Sustainable Non-sterilization Cultivation Method of Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus spp.) and its Key Influencing Factor

Abstract

Natural processes inspire human innovation. For example, leafcutter ants inhabiting rainforests of South America cut plant debris, transport them to underground nests, dissociate them into small pieces, and use them to cultivate a specific fungus, which serve as the main food source for the whole colony. Inspired by this, Giant Juncao grass (Cenchrus fungigraminus, name used before: Pennisetum giganteum z.x.lin) was used as the raw material. It is a C4 tall grass with rapid growth, high yield, wide-spread adaptability, nitrogen fixation, low-quality soil requirements, biosafety, and can be cultivated on a large scale in many low value and idle lands such as saline and alkali soils, desert and barren mountains. On this basis, we screened out a non-sterilization-based cultivation method of oyster mushroom with fresh Giant Juncao grass. Using our novel method, the bottleneck technologies in the popularization and application of various oyster mushroom cultivation methods in underdeveloped areas were improved. Took Wei W.'s report as reference that the highest annual output of Giant Juncao grass was 450 tons per hectare in southern China. And according to the conversion rate of the oyster mushroom in this research which was 95% in average (Ratio of total weight of fresh mushroom to dry weight of culture material), and the water content which was 91.5%, about 119.7 tons of fresh oyster mushroom could be produced in 2-3 months. Took the nutrient contents of Pleurotus sapidus cultivated by sterilization cultivation method with fresh Giant Juncao grass reported by Zhixiang X. as reference, it could provide 2.37 tons of high-quality protein. In addition, this study found that, the key to the success of this method was the reduction of the soluble substances in culture materials, which significantly reduced the contamination by Mucor circinelloides and provided an enabling environment for the growth of oyster mushroom. These findings provided an index for quality control and a theoretical basis for further study. If this technology is applied appropriately, it will be able to greatly alleviate malnutrition and food shortages in an economical, organic, and sustainable manner in underdeveloped areas.