Abstract:
n experiment was conducted to determine the
performance of different species of edible
Pleurotus mushrooms grown on rice straw
substrate with and without chicken manure
supplementation. The Pleurotus species
/varieties tested were P. flabellatus of Tanzania,
India and Thailand origin, and P. sajor caju
from Tanzania. Rice straw with and without
chicken manure were used as substrates. The
results showed that the duration of time from
spawning to pin formation and from pin
formation to first harvest was not significantly
different for both treatments (p=0.05). The
yields of the Indian and Thai P. flabellatus
varieties were significantly higher than yields of
P. flabellatus and P. sajor caju from Tanzania
(p=0.05). The yields of the substrate amended
with manure and un-amended were not
significantly different. These results suggest that
yields of the studied varieties of Pleurotus
mushrooms are not influenced by substrate
amendments rather other factors like spawn
quality. This implies that use of high quality
spawn can be a good determinant of high yields.
On the other hand local varieties had lower
yields than exotic varieties under the same
treatments showing that research and breeding to
screen and select for good quality local edible
varieties can adequately improve yields and
utilization of local breeds/varieties.
