Organic residues from agricultural and forest companies in Brazil as useful substrates for cultivation of the edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus

Abstract

We investigated whether highly available organic residues in Brazil can be used as substrates for the production of the oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus, instead of the conventional cultivation using the eucalyptus sawdust substrate. We assessed the mushroom yield on 13 substrates, of which 12 were formulated with different concentrations of organic residues and one with pure eucalyptus sawdust, and verified whether the raw material used in the substrate formula and the concentration of such alternative residues influenced their biological efficiencies. Substrates containing eucalyptus bark resulted in higher mushroom yield than those containing eucalyptus sawdust, which generally resulted in similar mushroom yield to the remaining formulas. Moreover, the raw material and the concentration of each residue affected the biological efficiency of the substrates. We show that the conventional substrate for P. ostreatus can be replaced by substrates easily accessible to producers without loss in productivity. Furthermore, that the concentration of these mixtures affects the mushroom productivity and should be considered when formulating the growth medium.

Growth of oyster mushroom using sawdust and agriculture waste as substrates

“…Seecharran et al, (2018) experimented with several substrates and founds that rice straw supplemented with vermicompost and agriculture wastes (cattle dung and duck manure) were suitable substrate for cultivation of P. ostreatus. Viriato et al, (2021) found that eucalyptus bark had potential as a substrate for production of P. ostreatus, producing higher yield, fruiting bodies and biological efficiency than the traditional eucalyptus sawdust material. In the present study, the approach of composting the sawdust for 50 days as described above was not a suitable approach for cultivation of P.ostreatus.…”

“…For this study, vermicompost was one of the components of the substrate. Vermicompost is produced by the decomposition of organic material by earthworms to produce humus-like material (Ansari 2010;Viriato et al, 2021). Since the earthworms would have already started the decomposition process, it is expected that abundant nutrients would be readily available for the mushroom to utilize.…”

“…Sawdust substrate, due to its lignocellulosic content, is also very efficient in mushroom cultivation provided that it is composted and can be supplemented with nitrogen sources, such as wheat bran or vermicompost (Josephine 2014;Viriato et al, 2021). Mushroom cultivation is common in Guyana but there is limited knowledge about its nutritional benefits.…”