Abstract

Author:
Ngonadi, E.N., Uko, I.

Doi: 10.26480/taec.01.2023.06.10

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

This experiment was carried out to determine the influence of three substrates on the growth and yield of Pleurotus eryngii and Pleurotus ostreatus in 2022 at the laboratory of Faculty of Agriculture, COOU, Igbariam, Anambra State. This study was designed out as a 3×2 factorial experiment in a completely randomized design. The substrates (rice bran, corn chaff, groundnut cake) were the main factor while the mushroom species (P. eryngii and P. ostreatus) were the sub-factor. Data were collected on spawn run period, pinhead initiation, total number of fruiting bodies, maximum and minimum weight of fruiting bodies, length and width of stalk, diameter of mushroom cap, yield of first three flushes, total yield and biological efficiency. The data collected above were subjected to analysis of variance. Significant means were separated using Fisher’s Least Significant Difference. The results obtained indicated that rice bran substrate gave the highest yield (10.70g), and biological efficiency (6.20%). This was followed by corn chaff while, groundnut cake had the lowest growth and yield values. The results also showed that P. ostreatus specie produced highest or maximum weight of fruiting bodies (4.88g), better cap diameter (3.10cm), stalk length (3.70cm), stalk width (1.20cm) and yield (40.67g) followed by P. eryngii.