PERFORMANCE OF VARIOUS SUBSTRATES IN THE CULTIVATION OF OYSTER MUSHROOM (PLEUROTUS SAJAR-CAJU)S. Chandraprakash, CM. Kamalasuriyan, R. Praviin Kumar, K. Manoj, GJ. Pradesh, R. Naveen Kumar, K. Dinesh Kumar, S. Kalaiamutan, G. Dinesh Kumar and C. PartheebanAbstract Oyster mushrooms are considered an important health food all over the world. There are various varieties of mushrooms cultivated by the growers. The experiment at Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, Faculty Centre for Agricultural Education and Research, Coimbatore was designed to assess the performance of the oyster mushroom Pleurotus sajar-caju in various substrates and to identify the best substrates for cultivation. Six different substrates (viz., paddy straw, sugarcane bagasse, teak leaves, forest waste, turf waste, and bamboo leaves) were used for oyster mushroom production. T3-Forest waste and T1-Sugarcane Bagasse had the shortest spawn running durations (20 and 20.3 days, respectively), followed by T2 and T5-teak and bamboo leaves (22.3 days). Among the six substrates, T0-Paddy straw (570 g) produced a significantly higher yield, followed by T4-Turf grass (467 g). |