Variation in Patterns of Pinhead and Fruiting Body Formation of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq. Fr.) upon Different Weeds and Agricultural Waste Substrates

Abstract

Oyster mushrooms are fleshy edible fungi which acquire huge importance due to their nutritional and medicinal properties. These mushrooms are cultivated upon various substrates which directly affect the pattern and time taken in pin head and fruiting body formations. So the present experiment was designed to study different weeds, agricultural wastes and their mixtures for understanding the different variations in patterns of different growth stages of oyster mushrooms. These patterns were evaluated through time taken to reach the attributed target. Our results illustrated that cotton waste showed better performance as substrate as it took minimum days i.e. 7.5 followed by Chenopodium album and mixture of cotton waste + Chenopodium album which relatively taken 12.5 and 13.5 days to initiate pinhead formation. These substrates also provided better results regarding pattern of fruiting body formations as compared to all other substrates by recording 14, 19 and 19.5 days respectively. Further experimentation revealed that relatively more number of fruiting bodies was formed when cultivation was based upon cotton waste, Chenopodium album and mixture of cotton waste + Chenopodium anonymously. The performance of all other substrates was below power. Hence we conclude that Chenopodium album anonymously or mixture of particular weed and cotton waste can be utilized for efficient cultivation of oyster mushrooms.