A Modified Approach in Substrate Preparation Technique for Small Scale Oyster Mushroom Farming

Aims: Cultivation of oyster mushrooms has increased vastly in a global scale during last few decades. Contaminants and indigenous microflora present in the substrate may led to the low productivity of mushrooms. Keeping this in mind, the present study was under-taken with slight modification in substrate preparation technique to eliminate dust particles from the substrate and to assure contamination free mushroom production.

Study Design: Comparative evaluation between modified approach and control beds.

Place and Duration: The study was carried out in Shri Laxman Prasad Pyare Lal Agro Products, Ayodhya during 2017.

Methodology: The wheat straw substrate was immersed in the drum containing tap water, mixing properly and allowed to stand for 10-15 min to settle down the dust particle in the bottom of the drum. After that, the floating substrate was transferred to the slant surface so that the extra water was decanted off. This substrate was put in to the steam sterilised gunny bag and steeped in the chemical solution consisting of Formaldehyde (500 ppm) and Bovistin (75 ppm) for 18 h. For the control, fresh wheat straw was put in to the steam sterilised gunny bag and steeped directly in the chemical solution as suggested above. After removal of excess water, the substrate was used for spawning with inoculums of Pleurotus sajor-caju, Strain- Malaysia.

Results: Beds with modified approach showed a complete absence of contaminants during entire crop cycle which showed the effectiveness of modified method while beds treated as control showed little incidence of various contaminants viz., Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus fumigatus, Curvularia sp., Penicillium sp., and Rhizopus stolonifer with 6.67-20.00 percent incidence.

Conclusion: The results revealed that modified method should be considered to contamination free mushroom production.