Abstract:
There are several species of edible
mushrooms grown around the world and among them,
particularly Pleurotus ostreatus, are highly nutritious
and in high demand worldwide. In Sri Lanka, P. ostreatus
is widely cultivated commercially and the nutrient
requirement is supplied with different supplementations.
This experiment was conducted to study the effects of
different nutrient supplements on the growth and yield
of P. ostreatus. The study tested different treatments,
including a supplement mixture, corn flour, green gram
flour, rice flour, and chickpea flour. The results showed
that the mushrooms supplemented with chickpea flour
showed a higher mycelial growth rate compared to other
treatments. However, corn flour showed better results in
terms of fruiting bodies per bag in both flushes. In the
first flush, the yield (g/bag) was higher with green gram
flour (137.80±17.48 g), followed by corn flour
(126.95±20.16g). In the second flush, the mixture of
supplements (144.95±14.99g) and corn flour (119.80±9.57
g) showed higher yields. Lastly, corn flour (246.75±22.64
g), the mixture of supplements (245.70±23.36 g), and
green gram flour (244.05±24.01 g) resulted in a higher
total yield. Since attention should be given to improving
the total yield of a mushroom cultivation use of, corn
flour, the mixture of supplements and green gram flour
as the supplements can be recognized as more beneficial
compared to the others.
