Production of oyster mushroom (𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴) using spawn run in different substrates

Abstract

Oyster mushroom (𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴) is a commercially important, predominantly grown mushroom variety and widely cultivated in small scale for self-employment. Successful mushroom cultivation depends on reliable spawn and good substrate. Therefore, this experiment was carried out to find out the possibility of using the grower produced spawn run (the mycelium) as the initial planting material and to identify a suitable substrate for production of oyster mushroom using a new method. The experiment was conducted in two seasons at the mushroom unit, University Experimental Station, Dodangolla. Five grams of spawn of oyster mushroom for treatments 1 and 3, and Ten grams of spawn run for treatments 2 and 4 were used as the planting material. The sawdust substrate for treatments 1 and 2 and the paddy straw substrate for treatments 3 and 4 were used in polypropylene bags. There was no significant difference observed among treatments on spawn runing and pin head formation. A significant difference was observed between the two substrates used in this experiment considering the time taken to the first harvest and to the total harvest. This study revealed that both, spawn and spawn run can be used as planting materials, since there was no significant impact on duration of spawn runing and pin head formation. The paddy straw was a better substrate compared to saw dust, which had a great impact on growth and gave the first harvest within 29-30 days. The total harvest was also significantly higher in the paddy straw substrate than to in the saw dust substrate. Since there was no significant yield difference between the spawn and the spawn run treatments, the growers will be able to save a rupee from each bag if they use spawn run as the initial planting material.