The effect of pasteurization and sterilization of substrates on the yield of pleurotus cornucopiae and pleurotus sajor-caju in Zambia

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Date
2011-03-25
Authors
Reed, Edgar
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A study was conducted to determine the effect of substrate pasteurization and sterilization on the yield of Pleurotus cornucopiae and Pleurotus sajor-caju, and on the suitability of sorghum, wheat and maize grains, and wooden sticks as mycelium carriers in spawn production. The Pleurotus species were inoculated on sterilized carriers and incubated at 25 °C for fourteen days. Results revealed that wheat and sorghum grains were suitable for spawn production while maize grains and wooden sticks permitted only partial colonization. Because of the easy availability and low price of sorghum,spawn multiplication was done on sorghum grains. The effect of different substrate materials and methods of substrate treatment on yield of Pleurotus species were studied by employing the split - split plot design. Spawn raised on sorghum grain was seeded on maize stalks, wheat straw and mixed wood shavings. Prior to seeding, each substrate type was treated by pasteurization in water heated to 65 °C and by sterilization in 2 an autoclave at 120 °C and 15 I b / i n pressure, both for one hour. The results on fruiting body production of Pleurotus species showed that there were interactions among the factors studied. There were no significant differences in the yield of the two Pleurotus species (p<0.05) on pasteurized wheat straw while there were differences in the yield between the two species on pasteurized maize stalks with P.cornucopiae yielding more than P.sajor-caju. P.sajor-caju performed significantly better (p<0.05) on pasteurized wheat straw than on pasteurized maize stalks while the yield P.cornucopiae on the two pasteurized substrate was not significantly different. However, the opposite was true on sterilized substrate, the yield of P.cornucopiae was higher on wheat straw while that of P.sajor-caju was not signifi cantly different. A comparison of mushroom yields on pasteurized and sterilized wheat straw and maize stalks showed significant differences. The mushroom yield was higher on pasteurized than sterilized substrate. However yields were generally very poor on the mixed wood shavings and the results were not significantly different.
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Agronomy
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