Mycelial Growth Performance of Pleurotus ostreatus and Volvariella volvacea in Common Kitchen Wastes

Pleurotus ostreatus (sideways oyster) and Volvariella volvacea (paddy straw) are two of the common mushroom species being cultivated throughout the world that thrives at tropical and sub- tropical countries. The common media used in mushroom cultivation is potato dextrose agar media, which is too expensive for small time mushroom growers. Thus, this study aimed to develop alternative culture media out of kitchen wastes such as Matured Coconut Water (MCW), Rice Wash (RW) and Corn Decoction (CD); specifically it intends to determine the mycelial performance of P. ostreatus and V. olvacea in common kitchen waste media and to evaluate the significant difference of the mycelial growth performance of P. ostreatus and V. volvacea in matured coconut water, rice wash and corn decoction. The pH levels of media were adjusted to 8.0. With 27.47 OC and 78.83% relative humidity, the fastest mycelial ramification of P. ostreatus was observed on rice wash within six days of incubation which is significantly higher than the two cultured media. However, matured coconut water and corn decoction revealed very thick mycelial density. In addition, all cultured media were fully colonized with P. ostreatus.On the other hand, shortest number of days of mycelial colonization of V. volvacea that took three days was noted in Rice wash (RW) which is significantly different among the evaluated media. In terms of mycelial density, the thickest mycelial ramifications were recorded in coconut water and corn decoction at 28.1 OC and 79.92% relative humidity. Moreover, all the evaluated media were completely ramified with V. volvacea. These results suggested that rice wash is an ideal media for P. ostreatus and V. volvacea, in addition, matured coconut water and corn decoction can be utilized as an alternative media for P. ostreatus and V. volvacea.

Keywords – corn decoction, matured coconut water, mycelial growth, P. ostreatus, rice wash, V. volvacea