Evaluation of the biological efficiency of Pleurotus ostreatus on sugarcane leaves and corn cobs

Abstract

The cultivation of edible mushrooms is a biotechnological process that allows the conversion of lignocellulosic materials into products of high nutritional value. The Pleurotus spp. mushroom is the second most cultivated in the world. Its cultivation utilizes various lignocellulosic substrates from agriculture and the agro-industry, with yields dependent on the substrate composition. Based on this premise, this study evaluates the cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus on sugarcane leaves and corn cobs by estimating its biological efficiency. Five treatments were applied, corresponding to the cultivation of the mushroom on substrate blocks made with corn cobs, sugarcane leaves, a 1:1 mixture of both, corn cobs with lime, and sugarcane leaves with lime. Five replicates were performed per treatment, for a total of 25 solid substrate blocks of 3 kg each, conditioned to 68% humidity in polyethylene bags. The substrate blocks were inoculated by injecting a mycelium homogenate from a liquid culture. The fruiting bodies collected in two harvests were weighed and related to the dry weight of the substrate to estimate biological efficiency. Through one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's multiple comparison tests, a significant difference was found between treatments, with sugarcane leaf exhibiting the highest biological efficiency (53.10 ± 2.72), thus representing a potential substrate for the cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus.