An optimized substrate combination for cultivating exotic King oyster mushroom, Pleurotus eryngii

Abstract

Pleurotus eryngii, commonly known as the 'King oyster mushroom', is one of the large and edible fungi native to Europe and Asia. In the present study, different agricultural and lignocellulosic waste materials were evaluated for optimizing cultivation of king oyster mushrooms at ICAR- Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru, India. The highest mushroom yield (146.08 g/kg wet substrate) was achieved with a substrate mixture of sawdust (37.5%), corn cob powder (37.5%), rice bran (12.5%), and wheat bran (12.5%) using a 5% spawn dose. Increasing the spawn dose to 8% further improved the yield, with the same substrate mixture yielding 179.8 g/kg wet substrate. The best yield (211.5 g/kg wet substrate) was obtained with the same substrate mixture at a higher spawn dose, demonstrating a significant improvement in biological efficiency. These findings support the potential for using locally available agricultural waste for sustainable mushroom cultivation, contributing to organic recycling and economic efficiency.