Different substrates and supplements are used in mushroom production, however their interaction effects and growth variables affected is little known. This study was conducted to compare the effects of substrate-supplement interactions on growth and yield of oyster mushrooms Pleurotus ostreatus. Two substrates (banana leaves and sawdust) and two supplements (chicken manure and sugar) were investigated. The substrates were reduced to 2 cm pieces and steam sterilized at 80–100°C for 3 hours. In each bag containing specific substrate, the supplements were added as 2% of the total substrate. The spawn was inoculated from each bag; misting was applied to maintain constant moisture during growth. The experiment was laid down in complete randomized replicated three times. Data was collected on the following: time taken for spawn colonization (Col), days to fruiting formation (FTD), number of pinheads (NPH, maturation time (MT) and weight of mushroom (WGT). Normal distributed data were subjected to analysis of variance and Tukey test for multiple comparison. The results found significant interaction effects of substrate and supplement on MT and WGT. Sawdust supplemented with chicken manure (136.99 ± 12.8 g) produced a high yield compared to sawdust without supplements (75.67 ± 6.91 g) equivalent to 50% weight increase. Banana leaves with chicken manure ranked the second (82.23 ± 6.55 g). The observed yield was correlated with NPH (0.657) which is significantly regarded as key yield determinant. MT was reduced when sawdust was used as substrate, save time and cost of production. Further research is recommended to fill the research gap on types of substrates and supplements, supplement concentration and application time for optimal yield of the oyster mushroom.
Joseph et al. (Fri,) studied this question.