Abstract:
An investigation was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of four different types of grain spawns viz;
kurakkan (Eleusine coracana), maize (Zea mays), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and paddy (Oryza sativa)
on oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) mushroom production. Spawn types were based on their effects on
mushroom solids (%), biological efficiency (BE %), size (g), number of sporophores, yield, yield ratio
and substrate weight loss (%). Locally available kurakkan (Eleusine coracana), maize (broken) (Zea
mays), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and paddy (Oryza sativa) were used for spawn production. The ex
periment was designed as a complete randomized design with three replicates. Four types of spawns
were tested on a medium based on sawdust. The growing media (substrate) inoculated with kurakkan
spawns showed the highest biological efficiency of 27.82± 0.12 (%) , mean yield of 52.94 ± 0.67 g, mush
room size of 7.73 ± 0.33 g and yield ratio of 23.19 ± 0.01. The harvests obtained from paddy spawn
showed the highest mushroom solids of 9.97 ± 0.26 (g/100g of harvest). Highest mean numbers of sporophore (fruiting bodies) were noticed in the harvests obtained from sorghum spawn (7.67 ± 0.66). The
kurakkan spawn significantly. Enhanced biological efficiency and increased size and yield, when com
pared with other spawn types viz; maize (Zea mays), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and paddy (Oryza sativa).
