ABSTRACT

Pleurotus pulmonarius mushroom was grown on different straw types such as vertiver grass (Vertiveria zizamoides), Elephant grass (pennisetum purpureum),rice straw (Oryza sativa) and edible grass straw (Penniseturn violaceum) with the main objective of comparing the growth and yield of this mushroom on the different straw types. The culture medium used was malt extract agar (MEA) which was prepared according to standard laboratory practice. Inoculation of the pure culture was done under sterile condition using 6mm diameter mycelial discs cut from the outer growing region of a young colony •of Pleurotus pulrrzonarius. The spawn was produced on clean, wet and sterile millet grains (Pennisetum typhoideum). Incubation of the bulk culture was carried out at elevated humidity in a mushroom house at ambient temperatures. Fructification started about three weeks after inoculation only from edible grass straw which seemed to be the best substrate for this mushroom while other straws delayed mycelial growth and fructification.