16. INFLUENCE OF SUBSTRATE COMPOSITION ON THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF PLEUROTUS MUSHROOMS YIELD

Diana Ficior, Dumitru Indrea, Al. S. Apahidean, Maria Apahidean,

D. Măniuţiu, Rodica Ganea, I. Paven, Mariana Bobăilă

Department of Vegetable Growing, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Horticulture, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, (E-mail: )

Introduction

Pleurotus mushrooms are the second most important mushrooms in terms of production, representing about 25% of the world market share today. In Romania the interest for Pleurotus is increasing due to their high nutritional value and the substantial incomes for producers. The technology of Pleurotus cultivation is relatively simple and different industrial or agricultural wastes can be used as substrate. The quality of substrate is one of the most important factors in Pleurotus cultivation. Along the time many research workers such as: N. Mateescu (1985), Ioana Tudor (2001), Al. S. Apahidean, D. Indrea (1999), P. Oei (1996) have established different compositions for Pleurotus substrate.

The aim of this research is to determine a substrate composition that allowed obtaining high yields with lower prices. From the wide variety of materials that can be used as substrate for Pleurotus we have selected three (wheat straw, corn cobs and saw dust) that are most common and at hand for the local producers. We have used these materials alone or in different combinations.

Materials and Methods

The experiments were developed in Vegetable Growing Department greenhouse at USAMV Cluj-Napoca. Comparative experiments were organized by randomized block method in three repetitions; four bags represented experimental plot.

The strain used is a Hungarian hybrid, HK 35. It has gray-brown fruit bodies that tend to be clusters.

Experimental variants were next ones:V1 - Corncobs; V2 - wheat straw; V3 - beech sawdust; V4 - 50% wheat straw + 50% corn cobs; V5 - 50% beech sawdust + 50% corn cobs; V6 - 50% wheat straw + 50% beech sawdust; V7 - 25 % wheat straw + 75% corn cobs; V8 - 75% wheat straw + 25% corn cobs; V9 - 33% corn cobs + 33% wheat straw + 33% beech sawdust.

The materials were shredded into pieces of 1-3 cm and after that they were moistened until it was moisture content of 75%. The materials were boiled one hour for disinfection and than they were mixed together in a volume ratio. After cooling the substrate was spawned with 3% spawn and it was filled in perforated plastic bags with 30 l volume.

Results and discussion

The highest yield in 2000 was obtained for V7 (25% wheat straw + 75% corn cobs), the yield difference given the control (V1) being very significantly (table 1). Yield difference for V2 (wheat straw) is not statistically provided even if it was recorded a yield increase about 0,47% given the control. The yields for all the other variants were lower given the control. In 2001 the highest yield was obtained for V7 (25% wheat straw + 75% corn cobs) the yield difference given the control being very significantly. Also V9 (33% corn cobs + 33% wheat straw + 33% beech sawdust) recorded a yield difference positive distinct significantly. The yields for all the other variants were lower given the control. The highest average yield for both years was obtained for V7 (25% wheat straw + 75% corn cobs) the yield difference given the control being very significantly. The yields for all the other variants were lower given the control.

First variant (corn cobs) present the highest number of clusters and V9 (33% corn cobs + 33% wheat straw + 33% beech sawdust) the highest average weight for clusters (table 2).

Conclusions

1. VII variant (25% wheat straw+ 75% corn cobs) recorded the best crop dynamic.

2. The highest yield was obtained also for the VII variant.

3. Adding straw to the corncobs had a beneficial effect on yield.

4. The lower yield was obtained for the III variant (beech sawdust).

References

Apahidean, AL. S., D. Indrea, 1999, Ciuperci proaspete pe 10 m2, Ed. Grand, Bucureşti.

Mateescu, N., 1985, Cultura bureţilor, Ed. Ceres, Bucureşti.

Oei, P., 1996, Mushroom cultivation, Tool Publications, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Tudor, Ioana, 2001, Cultura ciupercilor în gospodăriile populaţiei, ED. Ceres, Bucureşti.

Table 1. Yield of Pleurotus mushrooms as influenced by substrate composition

Variant / Yield (kg/120 l) / Yield (kg/120 l) / Average yield on two years / Apparent density for wet material (kg/m3) / % From wet materials
Kg/100kg
2000 / 2000 / Kg/120 l / % / + Dkg/120 l
V1 - corn cobs / 10,81- / 10,81- / 9,85- / 100,0 / +0,00 / 700,0 / 10,65
V2 - wheat straw / 11,28- / 11,28- / 8,73o / 88,7 / -1,12 / 333,3 / 17,78
V3 - beech sawdust / 1,91ooo / 1,91ooo / 1,8ooo / 18,2 / -8,05 / 341,6 / 4,60
V4 - 50% wheat straw + 50% corn cobs / 7,69ooo / 7,69ooo / 5,54ooo / 56,2 / -4,31 / 533,3 / 8,02
V5 - 50% beech sawdust + 50% corn cobs / 8,91oo / 8,91oo / 6,49ooo / 65,9 / -3,35 / 528,3 / 10,00
V6 - 50% wheat straw + 50% beech sawdust / 5,32ooo / 5,32ooo / 4,58ooo / 46,5 / -5,27 / 342,0 / 14,46
V7 - 25 % wheat straw + 75% corn cobs / 13,57*** / 13,57*** / 13,75*** / 139,6 / +3,90 / 623,3 / 17,70
V8 - 75% wheat straw + 25% corn cobs / 10,12- / 10,12- / 8,49oo / 86,2 / -1,36 / 416,6 / 15,76
V9 - 33% corn cobs + 33% wheat straw + 33% beech sawdust / 8,98oo / 8,98oo / 9,71- / 98,6 / -0,13 / 465,8 / 17,48

DL 5% +1,10 +0,88

DL 1 +1,52 +1,21

DL 0,1 +2,08 +1,67

Table 2 Influence of substrate composition on average number and weight of Pleurotus mushroom clusters

Variant / 2000 / 2001 / Average for two years
Number of clusters / Average weight of clusters (g) / Number of clusters / Average weight of clusters (g) / Number of clusters / Average weight of clusters (g)
V1 - corn cobs / 8,22 / 92 / 9,41 / 96 / 8,81 / 94
V2 - wheat straw / 4,26 / 82 / 6,17 / 94 / 6,83 / 89
V3 - beech sawdust / 2,24 / 90 / 3,62 / 79 / 2,93 / 85
V4 - 50% wheat straw + 50% corn cobs / 4,37 / 61 / 4,63 / 58 / 4,5 / 59
V5 - 50% beech sawdust + 50% corn cobs / 5,15 / 64 / 4,93 / 67 / 5,04 / 66
V6 - 50% wheat straw + 50% beech sawdust / 4,63 / 67 / 5,93 / 71 / 5,28 / 69
V7 - 25 % wheat straw + 75% corn cobs / 7,7 / 112 / 8,11 / 75 / 7,91 / 93
V8 - 75% wheat straw + 25% corn cobs / 7,19 / 84 / 8,15 / 79 / 7,67 / 81
V9 - 33% corn cobs + 33% wheat straw + 33% beech sawdust / 8,22 / 103 / 7,59 / 108 / 7,91 / 105