Banana residue could be a viable rice straw alternative for Pleurotus mushroom production

Authors

• Hend Ahmed Hamed * ¹
• Mohamed Fouad Mohamed ²
• Khalid Ahmed Elshaikh ¹
• Maher Hassan Hosseney ¹

1. Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Sohag University, Egypt
2. Department of Olericulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Egypt

Abstract

Purpose Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) is becoming more popular as an efficient biotechnological procedure for upcycling agricultural by-products into valuable human food. This study looked into the possibility of employing banana residue (BR) and sorghum stalks (SS) as localized feasible rice straw (RS) substitutes for cultivating P. ostreatus. This has the potential to improve the livelihoods of rural agricultural communities in Egypt, as well as those in other parts of the world.
Method For two successive trials, three sole substrates (BR, SS, and RS) and six various combinations of SS and BR each with rice straw at 1:1, 1:2, and 2:1 ratio were tested. Agronomic features, antioxidant capacity, and crude protein contents of mushroom basidiocarps were measured.  The chemical profile of the three raw and spent sole substrates was also studied.
Results The sole BR substrate was superior to both RS and SS in terms of basidiocarps yield and both exterior (average cap weight, diameter, and thickness) and interior (crude protein and total antioxidant activity, phenols and flavonoids contents) quality attributes. The yield of basidiocarps developed on the sole SS substrate was far lower than that of the other substrates. It is worth mentioning that, BR tended to contain high initial potassium, phosphorus, cellulose, and total carbohydrates concentration.
Conclusion Sole BR could entirely substitute sole RS as a substrate for the production of Pleurotus ostreatus.

Highlights

• Banana wastes can serve as alternative of rice straw to cultivate oyster mushrooms, which would help rural agricultural communities better their livelihoods.
• Sole banana residue (BR) could completely replace sole rice straw (RS) as a substrate for Pleurotus ostreatus and if both BR and RS substrates are plentifully available, their mixture can be used gainfully.
• The potassium, phosphorus, cellulose, and total carbohydrates concentrations in Banana Residue tends to be high.
• Sorghum stalks are not suited as a growing medium for oyster mushrooms on their own.

Keywords

• Sustainable Development
• Antioxidants
• Banana biomass
• Ligninolytic fibers
• Pleurotus