Abstract

YIELD IMPROVEMENT AND PILOT SCALE CULTIVATION OF PLEUROTUS EOUS BY UTILIZING REEDS AS THE SUBSTRATE AND NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS OF ITS HARVESTED FRUIT BODIES

V. Karuppuraj, S. Chandra Sekarenthiran, K. Perumal *

Abstract

This research work concentrated on yield improvement of P. eous on unexplored locally available lignocellulosic materials such as paddy straw, reeds, banana stem, sugar cane bagasse, sugar cane leaves, coir pith, sorghum husk and sunflower stem. The maximum bioefficiency of P. eous was obtained from paddy straw (121.97%) followed by reeds (112.98%). Among eight substrates, pilot scale production was carried out in reeds and totally 103.05kg of fresh fruit bodies were harvested from 105 kg of dry substrate with bioefficiency of 98.14%.The nutritional parameters of harvested fruit bodies were analysed viz., carbohydrate (47.27g/100g), protein (28.35g/100g), fat (0.37g/100g), crude fiber (42.46g/100g), energy (305.89 kcal/100g) and moisture (10.19%/100g). Hence the present shows a positive path that P. eous can be cultivated using alternative substrate and its efficacy was tested at pilot scale. As this mushroom known to several medicinal properties this study will be further focused towards pharmaceutical applications.

Keywords: Pleurotus eous cultivation, reeds, bioefficiency, nutritional parameters.