Comparative study on growth parameters of Pleurotus florida cultivated on different substrates at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate effect of different substrates namely finger millet (Eleusine coracana) straw (FMS), paddy (Oryza sativa) straw (PS) and their combination (50% FMS + 50% PS) on growth parameters such as spawn run, pin head appearance, maturation of fruiting bodies, flushing intervals, cropping period, total yield (g) and biological efficiency (B.E %) of Pleurotus florida cultivated at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India. A total of three treatments replicated five times were taken under complete randomize design. The minimum average interval between flushes was recorded on FMS (7.8 days) followed by 50% FMS + 50% PS (12.1 days) for P. florida. The total maximum yield and biological efficiency were noted on FMS (1155.40g and 92.43% respectively) which were significantly (P≤0.5) higher than other tested substrates. This was the first comparative study conducted to evaluate the efficiency of locally available finger millet straw with paddy straw (conventionally used) for the cultivation of oyster mushroom (P. florida) under the high altitude condition of Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India.