Evaluation of Substrates in the Elaboration of Secondary Inoculum for the Cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus

Abstract

The preparation of spawn or inoculum and its subsequent cultivation form the first step in the oyster mushroom supply chain, the preparation of the inoculum is related to quality parameters in the edible fungi production, where the use of grains of different cereals is essential to obtain the spawn The aim of this study was to determine the quality of different formulations of spawn using grains as wheat, corn, rice and sorghum furthermore, the growth of the strain of the CP-50 of Pleurotus ostreatus for oyster mushroom production on barley straw, under rustic conditions. In the spawn colonization and the percentage of contamination statistically significant differences were observed (P <0.05), being the treatments based on sorghum in combination with wheat, corn and rice the first to complete this process without presenting an incidence of competing organisms. Regarding yield and biological efficiency, no statistically significant differences (P <0.05) were found when using different formulations of spawn, values ranging from 84.17% were observed for fructification with the wheat + rice formulation, up to 71.45% when the formulation of spawn based on sorghum + corn was used. The production cycles had a variation of up to ten days between treatments, obtaining a more cut cycle when the sorghum + corn formulation was used. The results suggest the feasibility of using lower cost grains such as sorghum which impact in this process translates into a better cost benefit relation for small producers.

Keywords

• substrates
• biological efficiency
• spawn production
• cereal grains.