FACTORS AFFECTING THE GROWTH OF OYSTER MUSHROOM: SUBSTRATE COMPOSITION #oystermushroom #substrate

CTTO: For Educational Purposes Only. Substrates used in mushrooms cultivation affect the chemical, functional, and sensorial characteristics of mushrooms (Oyetayo and Ariyo, 2013). Pleurotus spp. is a saprophyte, and it extracts its nutrients from the substrate (grasses, wood, and agricultural residues) through its mycelium, obtaining substances necessary for its development, such as carbon, nitrogen, vitamins, and minerals (Urben, 2004). Many studies have been conducted to test the ability of Pleurotus spp. to grow on different agro wastes, such as rice straw, wheat straw, and cotton wastes (Hussain et al., 2002, Pant et al., 2006), olive mill waste, pine needles (Kalmis et al., 2008, Ruiz-Rodriguez et al., 2010, Al-Momany and Ananbeh, 2011), corn straw (Dias et al., 2003), thatch grass (Fanadzo et al., 2010), palm oil (Rizki and Tamai, 2011), weed plants (Das and Mukherjee, 2007), chopped office papers, cardboard, and plant fibers (Mandeel et al., 2005), sawdust, banana leaves, (Reddy et al., 2003) leaf of hazelnut (Yildiz et al., 1997), palm leaves (Alananbeh et al., 2014), tomato tuff (Ananbeh and Almomany, 2008), fruit pulp and peel, coffee pulp, sugar-cane residues (Li et al., 2001, Eira, 2003, Ragunathan and Swaminathan, 2003, Moda et al., 2005), weed plants (Khatun et al., 2007), biogas residual slurry manure (Banik and Nandi, 2004), and jute waste products (Basak et al., 1996). Water is one of the main factors that influence the success of mushroom growth. Nutrients are transported from the mycelium to the fruiting bodies by a steady moisture flow (Oei and Nieuwenhuijzen, 2005). The presence of high moisture content in the substrate makes the mycelium difficult in breathing and thus, it inhibits perspiration, rendering the development of the fruiting body impossible, even with elevated inoculum amounts or number of holes in mushroom cultivation packages, resulting in the development of non-desired organisms such as bacteria and nematodes (Urben, 2004). Low moisture content will result in the death of the fruiting body. The optimum moisture content for growth and substrate utilization depends upon the organism and the substrate used for cultivation. The increase in moisture level was believed to reduce the porosity of the substrate, thus limiting oxygen transfer. For this reason, the use of high moisture content limited the growth within the whole substrate, resulting in surface growth (Patel et al., 2009). According to Chang and Miles (2004), the appropriate moisture in the substrate should encompass a range between 50% and 75% in the substrate, enabling the satisfactory growth of Pleurotus spp. All of this information was cited in the study: Factors affecting mushroom Pleurotus spp. Marcelo Barba Bellettinia, B. B. et.al 2019. Factors affecting mushroom Pleurotus spp. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2016.1...