Research ArticleGrey Oyster Mushroom Biofarm forSmall-Scale Entrepreneurship

Desta Berhe Sbhatu Haftom Baraki Abraha and Hiluf Tekle Fisseha

Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering Mekelle Institute of Technology Mekelle UniversityPO Box 1632 Mekelle Ethiopia

Correspondence should be addressed to Desta Berhe Sbhatu destasbhatumueduet

Received 6 February 2019 Revised 1 April 2019 Accepted 5 May 2019 Published 22 May 2019

Academic Editor Ayman Suleiman

Copyright copy 2019 Desta Berhe Sbhatu et al This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properlycited

This paper reports the productivity of a small-scale pilot biofarm of grey oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sajor-caju (Fr) Sing) Thepilot was tested in Mekelle city (Ethiopia) in a brick-walled dark room Growing structures were constructed by erecting threewood poles and fixing themwith three wooden side bars at multiple locations tomake a prism-shaped rack withmultiple triangularopen shelves each capable of carrying one bag of spawned substrate Mushroom substrates were prepared from maize stalk andwheat bran supplement Pasteurized chopped maize stalk and wheat bran were mixed at the ratio of 100 91 82 and 73mdashyieldingfour treatments Five kilograms of substrate was taken from each treatment and was mixed with one kilogram of gypsum toproduce a growing mass Each mass was spawned with 200 g of inoculum under aseptic conditions and put in polyethylene bagsThe treatments were replicated thrice and the bags were put on the growth racks in completely randomized design The growingroom was maintained at optimum conditions Maize stalk substrates supplemented with 10 and 20 of wheat bran have resultedin statistically comparable productivities but statistically significantly higher than those grown on nonsupplemented and highlysupplemented maize stalk substrates (p le 005) The ingenuity of the design and the convenience of the construction of the racksthe availability of the substrates and the simplicity of the management andmaintenance of the biofarm rendered the piloted designsuitable for home-based and small- and medium-scale mushroom biofarm entrepreneurship

1 Introduction

Mushrooms are reproductive structure of multicellular fungiThey are sources of low-calorie food eaten raw or cookedsources of carbohydrate protein vitamins and minerals[1 2] They are popularly called the vegetarianrsquos meat Rawdietary mushrooms are good sources of B vitamins (such asthiamine riboflavin niacin and pantothenic acid) vitaminC zinc calcium phosphorus potassium sodium carbohy-drates proteins and fats and are becoming more popular[3] Mushrooms andor their extracts are also used in med-ications biological remediation bio-degradable packagingdyeing wool etc [4]

Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus spp) are the most pre-ferred ones among the edible mushrooms due to their abilityto grow quickly and productively in various lignocellulosicmedia [5ndash10] their versatility and absolute ease of cultivation(eg [11]) and their nutritional value especially as source of

protein [10 12 13] They are cultivated throughout the worldfor producing flavouring and aromatic as well as medicinalstuff [14ndash17] lignin and phenol degrading activities [18 19]antimicrobial activities and antioxidants [20ndash25] immuneenhancing activities (eg [26]) and producing secondarymetabolites like terpenoids alkaloids and phenols (eg[27]) The medicinal properties and activities of Pleurotusspecies is compiled by Patil and coworkers [2]

Mushroom cultivation offers ample opportunities byturning agroindustrial wastes into new forms of resourcesand protein-rich food by biodegradation bioremediationand biotransformation [28ndash31] This is because mushroomsare excellent converters of cheap cellulosic materials intovaluable proteins [32] In fact many studies have shownthat agroindustrial effluents are outstanding supplements thatshorten crop period and increasemushroomproductivities ofoyster species [31 33 34]

HindawiAdvances in AgricultureVolume 2019 Article ID 6853627 6 pageshttpsdoiorg10115520196853627

2 Advances in Agriculture

Indoor mushroom biofarm by using cheaply and amplyavailable substrates coming from agricultural industrialforestry and domestic wastes and by exploiting all availablehorizontal and vertical space helps us produce the highestprotein per unit area Protein yield of indoor mushroom bio-farm is estimated to be greater than 100 times compared to theyield of conventional agriculture or animal husbandry [35]In Ethiopia indoor mushroom cultivation would contributein(a) promoting household food and nutritional security(b) opening opportunities for home-based and small-scaleentrepreneurs and (c) assisting efforts of biotransformationof various wastes This paper reports the result of greyoyster mushroom (P sajor-caju) cultivation project piloted toacquire empirical data for developing a cultivation manualincluding design and construction of growing racks andprotocol of simple mushroom biofarm for home-based andsmallmedium-scale producers in and around Mekelle cityTigrai Ethiopia

2 Methods and Materials

21 Selection of Suitable Mushroom Species The choice ofthe mushroom species used in this knowledge and tech-nology transfer project was made based on four overridingparameters ease of cultivation local temperature sourcesof growth substrates and availability of spawn vendorsLiterature research and consultation with experts broughtthe researchers to consensus to choose grey oyster (P sajor-caju (Fr) Sing (syn Lentinus sajor-caju (Fr) Fries) pilotingits cultivation in Mekelle city Ethiopia (alt 1979m lat13∘ 301015840 010158401015840 N long 39∘ 281015840 1110158401015840 E average highlow yearlytemperatures 243∘C176∘C) P sajor-caju grows easily withrelatively less complicated procedures in moderate to hightemperature areas in the tropics and subtropics [6]

22 Preparation of Aseptic Growing Substrate and SpawningMaize stalk (C-source) and wheat bran (N-source) werecollected from around Adigrat and Mekelle cities EthiopiaPreparations of mushroom growing substrate began withsun-drying and chopping and shredding of the maize stalkinto 15 ndash 20 cm cuts The resulting maize stalk biomass wassoaked in tap water overnight and pasteurized using boilingwater in 100 litres metal barrels at 70ndash100∘C for 30 minutesby stirring as needed Then the pasteurized maize stalkbiomass was cooled to 30∘CThe wheat bran supplement waspasteurized separately following similar procedures Thenthe maize stalk biomass and wheat bran were asepticallyand thoroughly mixed at a ratio of 100 91 82 and 73yielding four stalk-bran combinations for four treatmentsThen 5 kg of biomass was taken from each combinationand was mixed with 1 kg of gypsum to produce a roughlyspherical mass (like cotton boll) of substrate ready forspawning Spawning was done aseptically by ensuring thatspawns reach all surfaces of the substrates Aseptic measuresinclude using alcoholic flames closing the working spacesfinishing the spawning quickly spawning in cold night andcombination of measures Spawned substrates were then putinto polyethylene bags and sealed leaving space on the topof the bags for air circulation Holes about 10 cm apart were

Woo

d Po

le 3

00 cm

300 cm

255 cm

Open Racks20 times 20 times 20 cm

185 cm

115 cm

Wooden Side Bar20 cm

45 cm

0 cm

Figure 1 Growth rack

opened in all sides of the bags to ensure that enough oxygenreaches the substratesThen spawned substrateswere readiedfor incubation on racks The racks were erected in a darkroomwith a dimension of 340 cm times 360 cm times 350 cm (LWH)

23 Infrastructure and Experimental Designs The home-based mushroom biofarm infrastructure was designed andbuilt in such a way that the available horizontal and ver-tical space is maximally utilized without affecting workersrsquomovement and safety and the roomrsquos aseptic conditions Thegrowth racks were erected inside a rectangular stone andbrick room (LWH 340 cm times 360 cm times 350 cm) with onewooden door and two glass windows The glass windowswere equipped with wire screen to keep out insects andother objects while allowing air movement The temperatureand humidity of the room were monitored Air movementbetween the room and the outside was controlled by openingand closing the winds as needed The darkness of the roomwas also controlled by covering the glass windowwith cartonsand newspapers

The growth rack was constructed by erecting three woodpoles (length 300 cm bottom diameter 4 ndash 5 cm) andfixing them together with wooden side bars (length 20 cmdiameter 3 ndash 4 cm) at 45 115 185 and 255 cm from the bottomto make a prism-shaped structure with four triangular openshelves (Figure 1) Each triangular open shelf carries onebag of spawned substrate The triangular opening of the

Advances in Agriculture 3

Table 1 Effects of different substrates on the growth rate of grey oyster mushroom (P sajor-caju)

Treatment Percent of Substrates Mean Number of DaysC-Source N-Source Colonization Pinhead Formation 1st Harvest

1 100 0 2100a 3000a 4000a

2 90 10 1900b 2467b 3267c

3 80 20 1800c 2333b 3367c

4 70 30 1700d 2500b 3533b

Mean 1875 2575 3542CV 0 429 194LSD 0 220 137

Means with different letters in the same column are significantly different at p le 005 LSD = least significant different CV = coefficient of variation ()

shelves is narrow enough to hold back the bags of spawnedsubstrates The treatments were placed in the growing racksin a completely randomized design with three replications

24 Experimental Conditions and eir Maintenance Thespawn-run was carried out at dark conditions for 17 to21 days The mushroom house was maintained at relativehumidity of 65ndash75 and temperature of 22ndash30∘C wheregaseous exchange was kept low to guarantee high CO

2and

low O2concentrations After the completion of the spawn

run the bags were sliced open and removed During theperiod of pinhead and fruiting body formation (run for 25ndash 30 days) the environmental conditions were modified byraising the relative humidity to 75ndash85 and by loweringthe temperature to 18ndash25∘C while high gaseous exchangeand light were allowed Maintenance of the conditions ofthe mushroom house was carried out with conventionalprocedures as appropriate by spraying water to the airflooding the floor wetting the walls covering the floor withwetted rags hanging clean wet sacks on the walls allowing agreater volume of outside air using live steam covering thedoor and window with papers and cartons when needed andturning the fluorescent light off or on

25 Data Collection and Analyses Sources of research datainclude (a) qualitative (descriptions of the nature and colourof sprouted mycelia and size of fruiting bodies and (b) quan-titative (number of days to colonization pinhead formationand first harvest yield per flush and total yield numberof fruiting bodies and biological efficiency (BE calculatedas the percentage of fresh weight of mushroom divided bydry weight of substrate)) Data analyses and comparisonswere carried out using descriptive and inferential statisticalmethods All comparisons are made at a priori probabilitylevel of p le 005

3 Results

31 Spawn Run The effects of the nature (composition) ofthe growing substrates on the performance of the mushroomwere studied by observing the density and colour of surfacemycelia and by comparing the days to substrate colonizationpinhead formation and first harvest Maize stalk substratewith no wheat bran supplement (control or treatment 1)showed poor growth of mycelia Maize stalk substrate with

30 supplement of wheat bran (treatment 4) resulted infull growth of mycelia but it was not completely colonizedOn the other hand maize stalk substrate supplemented with10 (treatment 2) and 20 (treatment 3) of wheat bran wascompletely colonized

Maize stalk supplemented with 30 wheat bran requiredshortest spawn run time compared to the rest of the treat-ments On the other hand the control required longest spawnrun time compared to the other treatments (p le 005) Spawnrun time to pinhead formation was higher in the control thanin the rest of the treatments The treatments with 10 and20 wheat bran supplements required comparable spawnrun time to first mushroom harvest but fewer mean numberdays compared to the control and treatment 4 (Table 1)

32 Mushroom Yield and Biological Efficiency This study hasshowed thatmushroom yield biological efficiency (BE) andnumbers of fruiting bodies are strongly related to the goodor full colonization of the substrates Apparently treatmentswith full colonization (ie treatments 2 and 3) resulted in sta-tistically significantly better yield per flush (thus better yieldper bag) and higher BE than the control (treatment 1) andtreatment 4 (p le 005) (Table 2) The treatments that resultedin better performances and productivities have producedstatistically significantly greater number of fruiting bodiesthan those resulted in lower performance and productivities(Table 3) In fact the more productive treatments had manybut small fruiting bodies as opposed to few but large fruitingbodies

4 Discussion

41 Effects of the Substrate Composition onMushroom Growthand Development Some researchers have reported similarfindings where maize cop substrate supplemented with 20wheat bran has lowered themean number of days for pinheadformation (eg [36]) Likewise other workers have observedthat maize stalk substrate without any supplements resultedin delayed colonization pinhead formation and first harvestcompared to maize stalk substrate with supplements (eg[37]) Very slow growth rate of mushroom to maturitywith similar growth substrate was also reported by otherresearchers [38] Furthermore Pala and coworkers havereported 22ndash24 days to spawn running 28ndash30 days to pin-head formation and 32ndash34 days to fruiting body formation

4 Advances in Agriculture

Table 2 Yield and BE of grey oyster (P sajor-caju) mushroom

Treatment Percent of Substrates Yield per Flush and Total Yield (in grams) BE ()C-source N-source First Second Third Fourth Total

1 100 0 985c 802b 340b 170c 2298c 228c

2 90 10 3747a 2424a 847a 501a 7519a 752a

3 80 20 3374a 2173a 775a 362ab 6685a 668a

4 70 30 2276b 1240b 625ab 298cb 4448b 444b

Mean 2596 16699 6467 3329 52352 5231CV 1722 2243 2614 2602 1973 1996LSD 8930 7441 3377 1730 20644 2087

Means with different letters in the same column are significantly different at p le 005 LSD = least significant different CV = coefficient of variation ()

Table 3 Number of fruiting bodies of grey oyster (P sajor-caju) mushroom

Treatment Percent of Substrates Mean Number of Fruiting Bodies per FlushC-source N-source First Second Third Fourth Total

1 100 0 93c 63b 23c 17c 197c

2 90 10 333a 220a 83ab 50a 687a

3 80 20 300ab 203a 87a 53a 643a

4 70 30 223b 127b 57b 33b 440b

Mean 2375 1533 625 38 4916CV 1914 2160 2182 2085 1882LSD 908 661 272 159 1848

Means with different letters in the same column are significantly different at p le 005 LSD = least significant different CV = coefficient of variation ()

when cultivating P sajor-caju on wheat straw substrate (eg[10]) On the other hand other researchers have observedquicker induction of primordia of inoculums (15ndash17 days)and mushroom maturity for first flush harvesting (20 days)(eg [39])

42 Substrate Composition on the Performance and BE of theMushroom It is evident that maize stalk supplemented withwheat bran results in better performance in terms of yieldBE and number of fruiting bodies thanwithout supplementBut it is also apparent that the supplementation needs tobe 10 to 20 This observation could be attributed to thefact that nitrogenous supplements stimulate the proliferationof mycelia and thus increase the yield of mushrooms whileexcess organic or mineral nitrogen would inhibit the synthe-sis of lignin-degrading enzymes and thus causes a decreasein productivity (eg [28 39 40]) Apparently treatments2 and 3 have resulted in significantly higher BE thantreatment 1 (control) and treatment 4 (p le 005) Treatmentswithout (treatment 1control) or with higher nitrogenoussupplements (treatment 4) have resulted in lower BE ingrowing P sajor-caju (Table 2)

The variability of BE depending on the nature (com-position) of growing substrates and its enhancement withthe addition of optimum nitrogenous supplements has beenobserved by many workers (eg [37 39 41]) As it has beenobserved by many researchers working with P sajor-caju(eg [8 37 42]) the present study has showed that theyields decrease over the course of the four flushes (harvestingtimes) It is believed that the nature and amount of nitrogenavailable in the growing substrates after each flush affect the

growth of the species thus the productivity of the biofarmInterestingly contrary to ours others working with Pleurotusflabellatus have reported an increase of yield with increasingtime of growth till the last harvest [38] The researchers haveattributed the observation to the capacity of the species indegrading available cellulosic fiber as it can have a differentenzyme profile

5 Concluding Remarks

This paper is prepared based on a knowledge and technologytransfer project aiming at designing and piloting an easyand effective small to medium-scale mushroom biofarm Ithas thus reported the protocol of cultivating grey oystermushroom (P sajor-caju) using amply available maize stalkenriched with wheat bran in Mekelle city Ethiopia andestablished the nature of the growing substrate that resulted ingood yield It has also reported the design and construction ofa growth rack thatmaximizes the utilization of horizontal andvertical space of any growing rooms We have shown that thedesign of the growing racks is ingenious in that it maximizesthe use of available space and the construction of the racks isquite easy requiring very limited inputs In fact the number ofgrowth racks can be increased from four to nine by separatingeach shelf by 25 cm in about 350 cm high growth rooms

The federal and the state governments of Ethiopiaand development partners are aggressively encouraging andincentivizing citizens especially the educated youth to initi-ate knowledge-based micro and small businesses Also thegovernments are working towards ensuring and sustainingfood and nutrition security at household and national levels

Advances in Agriculture 5

through increasing production and productivity and diver-sifying the produces And yet there is a growing demandfor mushroom in many urban and semi-urban settlementsof the Country Thus the authors believe that the protocolof grey oyster cultivation and the design of the ingeniousand easily erectable growth racks are timely in openingopportunities for home-based as well as small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs

Data Availability

The data is available as personal file and can be presented upon request

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that there are no actual or potentialconflicts of interest regarding this publication

Acknowledgments

TheKnowledge and Technology Transfer Project that yieldedthe data for the preparation of this manuscript was fundedby Mekelle University The authors are highly indebtedto Mekelle University and the colleagues at the Office ofUniversity-Community-Industry Linkage of the Universityfor facilitating the timely release of the funding

References

[1] A Eswaran and R Ramabadran ldquoStudies on some physiolog-ical cultural and post harvest aspects of oyster mushroomPleurotus eousrdquo Tropical Agricultural Research vol 12 pp 360ndash374 2000

[2] S S Patil ldquoCultivation of Pleurotus sajor-caju on different agrowastesrdquo Science Research Reporter vol 2 no 3 pp 225ndash2282012

[3] FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] ldquoPart II Mush-room Cultivation by People with Disabilities Guiderdquo 2007httpwwwfaoorg3AB49720Eab497e07htm

[4] C R Adams K M Bamford and M P Early Principles ofHorticulture Elsevier New York NY USA 5th edition 2008

[5] Y Hadar Z Kerem and B Gorodecki ldquoBiodegradation of lig-nocellulosic agricultural wastes by Pleurotus ostreatusrdquo Journalof Biotechnology vol 30 no 1 pp 133ndash139 1993

[6] S T Change and P Miles Mushrooms Cultivation Nutritionalvalue Medicinal Effect and Environmental Impact CRC PressNew York NY USA 2nd edition 2004

[7] A N Glazer and H Nikaido Microbial Biotechnology Funda-mentals of Applied Microbiology Cambridge University PressNew York NY USA 2nd edition 2007

[8] J Frimpong-Manso M Obodai M Dzomeku and M MApertorgbor ldquoInfluence of rice husk on biological efficiency andnutrient content of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq Ex Fr) KummerrdquoInternational Food Research Journal vol 18 no 1 pp 249ndash2542011

[9] R Gothwal A Gupta A Kumar S Sharma and B J AlappatldquoFeasibility of dairy waste water (DWW) and distillery spentwant (DSW) effluents in increasing the yield potential of

Pleurotus flabellatus(PF 1832) and Pleurotus sajor-caju (PS 1610)on bagasserdquo Biotechnology vol 2 no 3 pp 249ndash257 2012

[10] S Pala A Wani and R Mir ldquoYield performance of Pleurotussajor-caju on different agro-based wastesrdquo Annals of BiologicalResearch vol 3 no 4 pp 1938ndash1941 2012

[11] R Naraian O Narayan and J Srivastava ldquoDifferential responseof oyster shell powder on enzyme profile and nutritional valueof oyster mushroom Pleurotus florida PF05rdquo BioMed ResearchInternational vol 2014 Article ID 386265 7 pages 2014

[12] S Sharma and M Madan ldquoMicrobial protein from leguminousand non-leguminous substratesrdquo Acta Biotechnologica vol 13no 2 pp 131ndash139 1993

[13] O K Ngrsquoetich O I Nyamangyoku J J Rano A N Niyokuriand J C Izamuhaye ldquoRelative performance of oystermushroom(Pleurotus florida) on agro-industrial and agricultural sub-straterdquo International Journal of Agronomy and Plant Productionvol 4 no 1 pp 109ndash116 2013

[14] W M Breene ldquoNutritional and medicinal value of specialtymushroomsrdquo Journal of Food Protection vol 53 no 10 pp 883ndash894 1990

[15] O Osemwegie G Eriyamremu and J Abdulmalik ldquoA survey ofmacrofungi in EdoDelta region of Nigeria their morphologyand usesrdquo Global Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences vol 12no 2 pp 149ndash157 2006

[16] N Caglarirmak ldquoThenutrients of exoticmushrooms (Lentinulaedodes and Pleurotus species) and an estimated approach to thevolatile compoundsrdquo Food Chemistry vol 105 no 3 pp 1188ndash1194 2007

[17] S J Rhee S Y Cho K M Kim D-S Cha and H-J Park ldquoAcomparative study of analytical methods for alkali-soluble 120573-glucan in medicinal mushroom Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)rdquoLWT- Food Science and Technology vol 41 no 3 pp 545ndash5492008

[18] P Bobek and S Galbavy ldquoHypocholesterolemic and antiathero-genic effect of oystermushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) in rabbitsrdquoNahrungFood vol 43 no 5 pp 339ndash342 1999

[19] M S Fountoulakis S N Dokianakis M E Kornaros G GAggelis and G Lyberatos ldquoRemoval of phenolics in olive millwastewaters using the white-rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatusrdquoWater Research vol 36 no 19 pp 4735ndash4744 2002

[20] M Akyuz and S Kirbag ldquoAntimicrobial activity of Pleurotuseryngii var ferulae grown on various agro-wastesrdquo EurAsianJournal of BioSciences vol 63 no 2 pp 58ndash63 2009

[21] U Lindequist T H Niedermeyer and W D Julich ldquoThe phar-macological potential of mushroomrdquo Evidence-Based Comple-mentary and Alternative Medicine vol 2 no 3 pp 285ndash2992005

[22] B A Iwalokun U A Usen A A Otunba and D K OlukoyaldquoComparative phytochemical evaluation antimicrobial andantioxidant properties of Pleurotus ostreatusrdquoAfrican Journal ofBiotechnology vol 6 no 15 pp 1732ndash1739 2007

[23] L K Jagadish V V Krishnan R Shenbhagaraman and VKaviyarasan ldquoComparitive study on the antioxidant anticancerand antimicrobial property of Agaricus bisporus (J E Lange)Imbach before and after boilingrdquo African Journal of Biotechnol-ogy vol 8 no 4 pp 654ndash661 2009

[24] M J M Maciel A Castro e Silva and H C T RibeiroldquoIndustrial and biotechnological applications of ligninolyticenzymes of the basidiomycota a reviewrdquo Electronic Journal ofBiotechnology vol 13 no 6 pp 1ndash13 2010

Advances in Agriculture 3

Table 1 Effects of different substrates on the growth rate of grey oyster mushroom (P sajor-caju)

Treatment Percent of Substrates Mean Number of DaysC-Source N-Source Colonization Pinhead Formation 1st Harvest

1 100 0 2100a 3000a 4000a

2 90 10 1900b 2467b 3267c

3 80 20 1800c 2333b 3367c

4 70 30 1700d 2500b 3533b

Mean 1875 2575 3542CV 0 429 194LSD 0 220 137

Means with different letters in the same column are significantly different at p le 005 LSD = least significant different CV = coefficient of variation ()

shelves is narrow enough to hold back the bags of spawnedsubstrates The treatments were placed in the growing racksin a completely randomized design with three replications

24 Experimental Conditions and eir Maintenance Thespawn-run was carried out at dark conditions for 17 to21 days The mushroom house was maintained at relativehumidity of 65ndash75 and temperature of 22ndash30∘C wheregaseous exchange was kept low to guarantee high CO

2and

low O2concentrations After the completion of the spawn

run the bags were sliced open and removed During theperiod of pinhead and fruiting body formation (run for 25ndash 30 days) the environmental conditions were modified byraising the relative humidity to 75ndash85 and by loweringthe temperature to 18ndash25∘C while high gaseous exchangeand light were allowed Maintenance of the conditions ofthe mushroom house was carried out with conventionalprocedures as appropriate by spraying water to the airflooding the floor wetting the walls covering the floor withwetted rags hanging clean wet sacks on the walls allowing agreater volume of outside air using live steam covering thedoor and window with papers and cartons when needed andturning the fluorescent light off or on

25 Data Collection and Analyses Sources of research datainclude (a) qualitative (descriptions of the nature and colourof sprouted mycelia and size of fruiting bodies and (b) quan-titative (number of days to colonization pinhead formationand first harvest yield per flush and total yield numberof fruiting bodies and biological efficiency (BE calculatedas the percentage of fresh weight of mushroom divided bydry weight of substrate)) Data analyses and comparisonswere carried out using descriptive and inferential statisticalmethods All comparisons are made at a priori probabilitylevel of p le 005

3 Results

31 Spawn Run The effects of the nature (composition) ofthe growing substrates on the performance of the mushroomwere studied by observing the density and colour of surfacemycelia and by comparing the days to substrate colonizationpinhead formation and first harvest Maize stalk substratewith no wheat bran supplement (control or treatment 1)showed poor growth of mycelia Maize stalk substrate with

30 supplement of wheat bran (treatment 4) resulted infull growth of mycelia but it was not completely colonizedOn the other hand maize stalk substrate supplemented with10 (treatment 2) and 20 (treatment 3) of wheat bran wascompletely colonized

Maize stalk supplemented with 30 wheat bran requiredshortest spawn run time compared to the rest of the treat-ments On the other hand the control required longest spawnrun time compared to the other treatments (p le 005) Spawnrun time to pinhead formation was higher in the control thanin the rest of the treatments The treatments with 10 and20 wheat bran supplements required comparable spawnrun time to first mushroom harvest but fewer mean numberdays compared to the control and treatment 4 (Table 1)

32 Mushroom Yield and Biological Efficiency This study hasshowed thatmushroom yield biological efficiency (BE) andnumbers of fruiting bodies are strongly related to the goodor full colonization of the substrates Apparently treatmentswith full colonization (ie treatments 2 and 3) resulted in sta-tistically significantly better yield per flush (thus better yieldper bag) and higher BE than the control (treatment 1) andtreatment 4 (p le 005) (Table 2) The treatments that resultedin better performances and productivities have producedstatistically significantly greater number of fruiting bodiesthan those resulted in lower performance and productivities(Table 3) In fact the more productive treatments had manybut small fruiting bodies as opposed to few but large fruitingbodies

4 Discussion

41 Effects of the Substrate Composition onMushroom Growthand Development Some researchers have reported similarfindings where maize cop substrate supplemented with 20wheat bran has lowered themean number of days for pinheadformation (eg [36]) Likewise other workers have observedthat maize stalk substrate without any supplements resultedin delayed colonization pinhead formation and first harvestcompared to maize stalk substrate with supplements (eg[37]) Very slow growth rate of mushroom to maturitywith similar growth substrate was also reported by otherresearchers [38] Furthermore Pala and coworkers havereported 22ndash24 days to spawn running 28ndash30 days to pin-head formation and 32ndash34 days to fruiting body formation

4 Advances in Agriculture

Table 2 Yield and BE of grey oyster (P sajor-caju) mushroom

Treatment Percent of Substrates Yield per Flush and Total Yield (in grams) BE ()C-source N-source First Second Third Fourth Total

1 100 0 985c 802b 340b 170c 2298c 228c

2 90 10 3747a 2424a 847a 501a 7519a 752a

3 80 20 3374a 2173a 775a 362ab 6685a 668a

4 70 30 2276b 1240b 625ab 298cb 4448b 444b

Mean 2596 16699 6467 3329 52352 5231CV 1722 2243 2614 2602 1973 1996LSD 8930 7441 3377 1730 20644 2087

Means with different letters in the same column are significantly different at p le 005 LSD = least significant different CV = coefficient of variation ()

Table 3 Number of fruiting bodies of grey oyster (P sajor-caju) mushroom

Treatment Percent of Substrates Mean Number of Fruiting Bodies per FlushC-source N-source First Second Third Fourth Total

1 100 0 93c 63b 23c 17c 197c

2 90 10 333a 220a 83ab 50a 687a

3 80 20 300ab 203a 87a 53a 643a

4 70 30 223b 127b 57b 33b 440b

Mean 2375 1533 625 38 4916CV 1914 2160 2182 2085 1882LSD 908 661 272 159 1848

Means with different letters in the same column are significantly different at p le 005 LSD = least significant different CV = coefficient of variation ()

when cultivating P sajor-caju on wheat straw substrate (eg[10]) On the other hand other researchers have observedquicker induction of primordia of inoculums (15ndash17 days)and mushroom maturity for first flush harvesting (20 days)(eg [39])

42 Substrate Composition on the Performance and BE of theMushroom It is evident that maize stalk supplemented withwheat bran results in better performance in terms of yieldBE and number of fruiting bodies thanwithout supplementBut it is also apparent that the supplementation needs tobe 10 to 20 This observation could be attributed to thefact that nitrogenous supplements stimulate the proliferationof mycelia and thus increase the yield of mushrooms whileexcess organic or mineral nitrogen would inhibit the synthe-sis of lignin-degrading enzymes and thus causes a decreasein productivity (eg [28 39 40]) Apparently treatments2 and 3 have resulted in significantly higher BE thantreatment 1 (control) and treatment 4 (p le 005) Treatmentswithout (treatment 1control) or with higher nitrogenoussupplements (treatment 4) have resulted in lower BE ingrowing P sajor-caju (Table 2)

The variability of BE depending on the nature (com-position) of growing substrates and its enhancement withthe addition of optimum nitrogenous supplements has beenobserved by many workers (eg [37 39 41]) As it has beenobserved by many researchers working with P sajor-caju(eg [8 37 42]) the present study has showed that theyields decrease over the course of the four flushes (harvestingtimes) It is believed that the nature and amount of nitrogenavailable in the growing substrates after each flush affect the

growth of the species thus the productivity of the biofarmInterestingly contrary to ours others working with Pleurotusflabellatus have reported an increase of yield with increasingtime of growth till the last harvest [38] The researchers haveattributed the observation to the capacity of the species indegrading available cellulosic fiber as it can have a differentenzyme profile

5 Concluding Remarks

This paper is prepared based on a knowledge and technologytransfer project aiming at designing and piloting an easyand effective small to medium-scale mushroom biofarm Ithas thus reported the protocol of cultivating grey oystermushroom (P sajor-caju) using amply available maize stalkenriched with wheat bran in Mekelle city Ethiopia andestablished the nature of the growing substrate that resulted ingood yield It has also reported the design and construction ofa growth rack thatmaximizes the utilization of horizontal andvertical space of any growing rooms We have shown that thedesign of the growing racks is ingenious in that it maximizesthe use of available space and the construction of the racks isquite easy requiring very limited inputs In fact the number ofgrowth racks can be increased from four to nine by separatingeach shelf by 25 cm in about 350 cm high growth rooms

The federal and the state governments of Ethiopiaand development partners are aggressively encouraging andincentivizing citizens especially the educated youth to initi-ate knowledge-based micro and small businesses Also thegovernments are working towards ensuring and sustainingfood and nutrition security at household and national levels

Advances in Agriculture 5

through increasing production and productivity and diver-sifying the produces And yet there is a growing demandfor mushroom in many urban and semi-urban settlementsof the Country Thus the authors believe that the protocolof grey oyster cultivation and the design of the ingeniousand easily erectable growth racks are timely in openingopportunities for home-based as well as small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs

Data Availability

The data is available as personal file and can be presented upon request

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that there are no actual or potentialconflicts of interest regarding this publication

Acknowledgments

TheKnowledge and Technology Transfer Project that yieldedthe data for the preparation of this manuscript was fundedby Mekelle University The authors are highly indebtedto Mekelle University and the colleagues at the Office ofUniversity-Community-Industry Linkage of the Universityfor facilitating the timely release of the funding

References

[1] A Eswaran and R Ramabadran ldquoStudies on some physiolog-ical cultural and post harvest aspects of oyster mushroomPleurotus eousrdquo Tropical Agricultural Research vol 12 pp 360ndash374 2000

[2] S S Patil ldquoCultivation of Pleurotus sajor-caju on different agrowastesrdquo Science Research Reporter vol 2 no 3 pp 225ndash2282012

[3] FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] ldquoPart II Mush-room Cultivation by People with Disabilities Guiderdquo 2007httpwwwfaoorg3AB49720Eab497e07htm

[4] C R Adams K M Bamford and M P Early Principles ofHorticulture Elsevier New York NY USA 5th edition 2008

[5] Y Hadar Z Kerem and B Gorodecki ldquoBiodegradation of lig-nocellulosic agricultural wastes by Pleurotus ostreatusrdquo Journalof Biotechnology vol 30 no 1 pp 133ndash139 1993

[6] S T Change and P Miles Mushrooms Cultivation Nutritionalvalue Medicinal Effect and Environmental Impact CRC PressNew York NY USA 2nd edition 2004

[7] A N Glazer and H Nikaido Microbial Biotechnology Funda-mentals of Applied Microbiology Cambridge University PressNew York NY USA 2nd edition 2007

[8] J Frimpong-Manso M Obodai M Dzomeku and M MApertorgbor ldquoInfluence of rice husk on biological efficiency andnutrient content of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq Ex Fr) KummerrdquoInternational Food Research Journal vol 18 no 1 pp 249ndash2542011

[9] R Gothwal A Gupta A Kumar S Sharma and B J AlappatldquoFeasibility of dairy waste water (DWW) and distillery spentwant (DSW) effluents in increasing the yield potential of

Pleurotus flabellatus(PF 1832) and Pleurotus sajor-caju (PS 1610)on bagasserdquo Biotechnology vol 2 no 3 pp 249ndash257 2012

[10] S Pala A Wani and R Mir ldquoYield performance of Pleurotussajor-caju on different agro-based wastesrdquo Annals of BiologicalResearch vol 3 no 4 pp 1938ndash1941 2012

[11] R Naraian O Narayan and J Srivastava ldquoDifferential responseof oyster shell powder on enzyme profile and nutritional valueof oyster mushroom Pleurotus florida PF05rdquo BioMed ResearchInternational vol 2014 Article ID 386265 7 pages 2014

[12] S Sharma and M Madan ldquoMicrobial protein from leguminousand non-leguminous substratesrdquo Acta Biotechnologica vol 13no 2 pp 131ndash139 1993

[13] O K Ngrsquoetich O I Nyamangyoku J J Rano A N Niyokuriand J C Izamuhaye ldquoRelative performance of oystermushroom(Pleurotus florida) on agro-industrial and agricultural sub-straterdquo International Journal of Agronomy and Plant Productionvol 4 no 1 pp 109ndash116 2013

[14] W M Breene ldquoNutritional and medicinal value of specialtymushroomsrdquo Journal of Food Protection vol 53 no 10 pp 883ndash894 1990

[15] O Osemwegie G Eriyamremu and J Abdulmalik ldquoA survey ofmacrofungi in EdoDelta region of Nigeria their morphologyand usesrdquo Global Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences vol 12no 2 pp 149ndash157 2006

[16] N Caglarirmak ldquoThenutrients of exoticmushrooms (Lentinulaedodes and Pleurotus species) and an estimated approach to thevolatile compoundsrdquo Food Chemistry vol 105 no 3 pp 1188ndash1194 2007

[17] S J Rhee S Y Cho K M Kim D-S Cha and H-J Park ldquoAcomparative study of analytical methods for alkali-soluble 120573-glucan in medicinal mushroom Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)rdquoLWT- Food Science and Technology vol 41 no 3 pp 545ndash5492008

[18] P Bobek and S Galbavy ldquoHypocholesterolemic and antiathero-genic effect of oystermushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) in rabbitsrdquoNahrungFood vol 43 no 5 pp 339ndash342 1999

[19] M S Fountoulakis S N Dokianakis M E Kornaros G GAggelis and G Lyberatos ldquoRemoval of phenolics in olive millwastewaters using the white-rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatusrdquoWater Research vol 36 no 19 pp 4735ndash4744 2002

[20] M Akyuz and S Kirbag ldquoAntimicrobial activity of Pleurotuseryngii var ferulae grown on various agro-wastesrdquo EurAsianJournal of BioSciences vol 63 no 2 pp 58ndash63 2009

[21] U Lindequist T H Niedermeyer and W D Julich ldquoThe phar-macological potential of mushroomrdquo Evidence-Based Comple-mentary and Alternative Medicine vol 2 no 3 pp 285ndash2992005

[22] B A Iwalokun U A Usen A A Otunba and D K OlukoyaldquoComparative phytochemical evaluation antimicrobial andantioxidant properties of Pleurotus ostreatusrdquoAfrican Journal ofBiotechnology vol 6 no 15 pp 1732ndash1739 2007

[23] L K Jagadish V V Krishnan R Shenbhagaraman and VKaviyarasan ldquoComparitive study on the antioxidant anticancerand antimicrobial property of Agaricus bisporus (J E Lange)Imbach before and after boilingrdquo African Journal of Biotechnol-ogy vol 8 no 4 pp 654ndash661 2009

[24] M J M Maciel A Castro e Silva and H C T RibeiroldquoIndustrial and biotechnological applications of ligninolyticenzymes of the basidiomycota a reviewrdquo Electronic Journal ofBiotechnology vol 13 no 6 pp 1ndash13 2010

4 Advances in Agriculture

Table 2 Yield and BE of grey oyster (P sajor-caju) mushroom

Treatment Percent of Substrates Yield per Flush and Total Yield (in grams) BE ()C-source N-source First Second Third Fourth Total

1 100 0 985c 802b 340b 170c 2298c 228c

2 90 10 3747a 2424a 847a 501a 7519a 752a

3 80 20 3374a 2173a 775a 362ab 6685a 668a

4 70 30 2276b 1240b 625ab 298cb 4448b 444b

Mean 2596 16699 6467 3329 52352 5231CV 1722 2243 2614 2602 1973 1996LSD 8930 7441 3377 1730 20644 2087

Means with different letters in the same column are significantly different at p le 005 LSD = least significant different CV = coefficient of variation ()

Table 3 Number of fruiting bodies of grey oyster (P sajor-caju) mushroom

Treatment Percent of Substrates Mean Number of Fruiting Bodies per FlushC-source N-source First Second Third Fourth Total

1 100 0 93c 63b 23c 17c 197c

2 90 10 333a 220a 83ab 50a 687a

3 80 20 300ab 203a 87a 53a 643a

4 70 30 223b 127b 57b 33b 440b

Mean 2375 1533 625 38 4916CV 1914 2160 2182 2085 1882LSD 908 661 272 159 1848

Means with different letters in the same column are significantly different at p le 005 LSD = least significant different CV = coefficient of variation ()

when cultivating P sajor-caju on wheat straw substrate (eg[10]) On the other hand other researchers have observedquicker induction of primordia of inoculums (15ndash17 days)and mushroom maturity for first flush harvesting (20 days)(eg [39])

42 Substrate Composition on the Performance and BE of theMushroom It is evident that maize stalk supplemented withwheat bran results in better performance in terms of yieldBE and number of fruiting bodies thanwithout supplementBut it is also apparent that the supplementation needs tobe 10 to 20 This observation could be attributed to thefact that nitrogenous supplements stimulate the proliferationof mycelia and thus increase the yield of mushrooms whileexcess organic or mineral nitrogen would inhibit the synthe-sis of lignin-degrading enzymes and thus causes a decreasein productivity (eg [28 39 40]) Apparently treatments2 and 3 have resulted in significantly higher BE thantreatment 1 (control) and treatment 4 (p le 005) Treatmentswithout (treatment 1control) or with higher nitrogenoussupplements (treatment 4) have resulted in lower BE ingrowing P sajor-caju (Table 2)

The variability of BE depending on the nature (com-position) of growing substrates and its enhancement withthe addition of optimum nitrogenous supplements has beenobserved by many workers (eg [37 39 41]) As it has beenobserved by many researchers working with P sajor-caju(eg [8 37 42]) the present study has showed that theyields decrease over the course of the four flushes (harvestingtimes) It is believed that the nature and amount of nitrogenavailable in the growing substrates after each flush affect the

growth of the species thus the productivity of the biofarmInterestingly contrary to ours others working with Pleurotusflabellatus have reported an increase of yield with increasingtime of growth till the last harvest [38] The researchers haveattributed the observation to the capacity of the species indegrading available cellulosic fiber as it can have a differentenzyme profile

5 Concluding Remarks

This paper is prepared based on a knowledge and technologytransfer project aiming at designing and piloting an easyand effective small to medium-scale mushroom biofarm Ithas thus reported the protocol of cultivating grey oystermushroom (P sajor-caju) using amply available maize stalkenriched with wheat bran in Mekelle city Ethiopia andestablished the nature of the growing substrate that resulted ingood yield It has also reported the design and construction ofa growth rack thatmaximizes the utilization of horizontal andvertical space of any growing rooms We have shown that thedesign of the growing racks is ingenious in that it maximizesthe use of available space and the construction of the racks isquite easy requiring very limited inputs In fact the number ofgrowth racks can be increased from four to nine by separatingeach shelf by 25 cm in about 350 cm high growth rooms

The federal and the state governments of Ethiopiaand development partners are aggressively encouraging andincentivizing citizens especially the educated youth to initi-ate knowledge-based micro and small businesses Also thegovernments are working towards ensuring and sustainingfood and nutrition security at household and national levels

Advances in Agriculture 5

through increasing production and productivity and diver-sifying the produces And yet there is a growing demandfor mushroom in many urban and semi-urban settlementsof the Country Thus the authors believe that the protocolof grey oyster cultivation and the design of the ingeniousand easily erectable growth racks are timely in openingopportunities for home-based as well as small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs

Data Availability

The data is available as personal file and can be presented upon request

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that there are no actual or potentialconflicts of interest regarding this publication

Acknowledgments

TheKnowledge and Technology Transfer Project that yieldedthe data for the preparation of this manuscript was fundedby Mekelle University The authors are highly indebtedto Mekelle University and the colleagues at the Office ofUniversity-Community-Industry Linkage of the Universityfor facilitating the timely release of the funding

References

[1] A Eswaran and R Ramabadran ldquoStudies on some physiolog-ical cultural and post harvest aspects of oyster mushroomPleurotus eousrdquo Tropical Agricultural Research vol 12 pp 360ndash374 2000

[2] S S Patil ldquoCultivation of Pleurotus sajor-caju on different agrowastesrdquo Science Research Reporter vol 2 no 3 pp 225ndash2282012

[3] FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] ldquoPart II Mush-room Cultivation by People with Disabilities Guiderdquo 2007httpwwwfaoorg3AB49720Eab497e07htm

[4] C R Adams K M Bamford and M P Early Principles ofHorticulture Elsevier New York NY USA 5th edition 2008

[5] Y Hadar Z Kerem and B Gorodecki ldquoBiodegradation of lig-nocellulosic agricultural wastes by Pleurotus ostreatusrdquo Journalof Biotechnology vol 30 no 1 pp 133ndash139 1993

[6] S T Change and P Miles Mushrooms Cultivation Nutritionalvalue Medicinal Effect and Environmental Impact CRC PressNew York NY USA 2nd edition 2004

[7] A N Glazer and H Nikaido Microbial Biotechnology Funda-mentals of Applied Microbiology Cambridge University PressNew York NY USA 2nd edition 2007

[8] J Frimpong-Manso M Obodai M Dzomeku and M MApertorgbor ldquoInfluence of rice husk on biological efficiency andnutrient content of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq Ex Fr) KummerrdquoInternational Food Research Journal vol 18 no 1 pp 249ndash2542011

[9] R Gothwal A Gupta A Kumar S Sharma and B J AlappatldquoFeasibility of dairy waste water (DWW) and distillery spentwant (DSW) effluents in increasing the yield potential of

Pleurotus flabellatus(PF 1832) and Pleurotus sajor-caju (PS 1610)on bagasserdquo Biotechnology vol 2 no 3 pp 249ndash257 2012

[10] S Pala A Wani and R Mir ldquoYield performance of Pleurotussajor-caju on different agro-based wastesrdquo Annals of BiologicalResearch vol 3 no 4 pp 1938ndash1941 2012

[11] R Naraian O Narayan and J Srivastava ldquoDifferential responseof oyster shell powder on enzyme profile and nutritional valueof oyster mushroom Pleurotus florida PF05rdquo BioMed ResearchInternational vol 2014 Article ID 386265 7 pages 2014

[12] S Sharma and M Madan ldquoMicrobial protein from leguminousand non-leguminous substratesrdquo Acta Biotechnologica vol 13no 2 pp 131ndash139 1993

[13] O K Ngrsquoetich O I Nyamangyoku J J Rano A N Niyokuriand J C Izamuhaye ldquoRelative performance of oystermushroom(Pleurotus florida) on agro-industrial and agricultural sub-straterdquo International Journal of Agronomy and Plant Productionvol 4 no 1 pp 109ndash116 2013

[14] W M Breene ldquoNutritional and medicinal value of specialtymushroomsrdquo Journal of Food Protection vol 53 no 10 pp 883ndash894 1990

[15] O Osemwegie G Eriyamremu and J Abdulmalik ldquoA survey ofmacrofungi in EdoDelta region of Nigeria their morphologyand usesrdquo Global Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences vol 12no 2 pp 149ndash157 2006

[16] N Caglarirmak ldquoThenutrients of exoticmushrooms (Lentinulaedodes and Pleurotus species) and an estimated approach to thevolatile compoundsrdquo Food Chemistry vol 105 no 3 pp 1188ndash1194 2007

[17] S J Rhee S Y Cho K M Kim D-S Cha and H-J Park ldquoAcomparative study of analytical methods for alkali-soluble 120573-glucan in medicinal mushroom Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)rdquoLWT- Food Science and Technology vol 41 no 3 pp 545ndash5492008

[18] P Bobek and S Galbavy ldquoHypocholesterolemic and antiathero-genic effect of oystermushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) in rabbitsrdquoNahrungFood vol 43 no 5 pp 339ndash342 1999

[19] M S Fountoulakis S N Dokianakis M E Kornaros G GAggelis and G Lyberatos ldquoRemoval of phenolics in olive millwastewaters using the white-rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatusrdquoWater Research vol 36 no 19 pp 4735ndash4744 2002

[20] M Akyuz and S Kirbag ldquoAntimicrobial activity of Pleurotuseryngii var ferulae grown on various agro-wastesrdquo EurAsianJournal of BioSciences vol 63 no 2 pp 58ndash63 2009

[21] U Lindequist T H Niedermeyer and W D Julich ldquoThe phar-macological potential of mushroomrdquo Evidence-Based Comple-mentary and Alternative Medicine vol 2 no 3 pp 285ndash2992005

[22] B A Iwalokun U A Usen A A Otunba and D K OlukoyaldquoComparative phytochemical evaluation antimicrobial andantioxidant properties of Pleurotus ostreatusrdquoAfrican Journal ofBiotechnology vol 6 no 15 pp 1732ndash1739 2007

[23] L K Jagadish V V Krishnan R Shenbhagaraman and VKaviyarasan ldquoComparitive study on the antioxidant anticancerand antimicrobial property of Agaricus bisporus (J E Lange)Imbach before and after boilingrdquo African Journal of Biotechnol-ogy vol 8 no 4 pp 654ndash661 2009

[24] M J M Maciel A Castro e Silva and H C T RibeiroldquoIndustrial and biotechnological applications of ligninolyticenzymes of the basidiomycota a reviewrdquo Electronic Journal ofBiotechnology vol 13 no 6 pp 1ndash13 2010

Advances in Agriculture 5

through increasing production and productivity and diver-sifying the produces And yet there is a growing demandfor mushroom in many urban and semi-urban settlementsof the Country Thus the authors believe that the protocolof grey oyster cultivation and the design of the ingeniousand easily erectable growth racks are timely in openingopportunities for home-based as well as small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs

Data Availability

The data is available as personal file and can be presented upon request

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that there are no actual or potentialconflicts of interest regarding this publication

Acknowledgments

TheKnowledge and Technology Transfer Project that yieldedthe data for the preparation of this manuscript was fundedby Mekelle University The authors are highly indebtedto Mekelle University and the colleagues at the Office ofUniversity-Community-Industry Linkage of the Universityfor facilitating the timely release of the funding

References

[1] A Eswaran and R Ramabadran ldquoStudies on some physiolog-ical cultural and post harvest aspects of oyster mushroomPleurotus eousrdquo Tropical Agricultural Research vol 12 pp 360ndash374 2000

[2] S S Patil ldquoCultivation of Pleurotus sajor-caju on different agrowastesrdquo Science Research Reporter vol 2 no 3 pp 225ndash2282012

[3] FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] ldquoPart II Mush-room Cultivation by People with Disabilities Guiderdquo 2007httpwwwfaoorg3AB49720Eab497e07htm

[4] C R Adams K M Bamford and M P Early Principles ofHorticulture Elsevier New York NY USA 5th edition 2008

[5] Y Hadar Z Kerem and B Gorodecki ldquoBiodegradation of lig-nocellulosic agricultural wastes by Pleurotus ostreatusrdquo Journalof Biotechnology vol 30 no 1 pp 133ndash139 1993

[6] S T Change and P Miles Mushrooms Cultivation Nutritionalvalue Medicinal Effect and Environmental Impact CRC PressNew York NY USA 2nd edition 2004

[7] A N Glazer and H Nikaido Microbial Biotechnology Funda-mentals of Applied Microbiology Cambridge University PressNew York NY USA 2nd edition 2007

[8] J Frimpong-Manso M Obodai M Dzomeku and M MApertorgbor ldquoInfluence of rice husk on biological efficiency andnutrient content of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq Ex Fr) KummerrdquoInternational Food Research Journal vol 18 no 1 pp 249ndash2542011

[9] R Gothwal A Gupta A Kumar S Sharma and B J AlappatldquoFeasibility of dairy waste water (DWW) and distillery spentwant (DSW) effluents in increasing the yield potential of

Pleurotus flabellatus(PF 1832) and Pleurotus sajor-caju (PS 1610)on bagasserdquo Biotechnology vol 2 no 3 pp 249ndash257 2012

[10] S Pala A Wani and R Mir ldquoYield performance of Pleurotussajor-caju on different agro-based wastesrdquo Annals of BiologicalResearch vol 3 no 4 pp 1938ndash1941 2012

[11] R Naraian O Narayan and J Srivastava ldquoDifferential responseof oyster shell powder on enzyme profile and nutritional valueof oyster mushroom Pleurotus florida PF05rdquo BioMed ResearchInternational vol 2014 Article ID 386265 7 pages 2014

[12] S Sharma and M Madan ldquoMicrobial protein from leguminousand non-leguminous substratesrdquo Acta Biotechnologica vol 13no 2 pp 131ndash139 1993

[13] O K Ngrsquoetich O I Nyamangyoku J J Rano A N Niyokuriand J C Izamuhaye ldquoRelative performance of oystermushroom(Pleurotus florida) on agro-industrial and agricultural sub-straterdquo International Journal of Agronomy and Plant Productionvol 4 no 1 pp 109ndash116 2013

[14] W M Breene ldquoNutritional and medicinal value of specialtymushroomsrdquo Journal of Food Protection vol 53 no 10 pp 883ndash894 1990

[15] O Osemwegie G Eriyamremu and J Abdulmalik ldquoA survey ofmacrofungi in EdoDelta region of Nigeria their morphologyand usesrdquo Global Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences vol 12no 2 pp 149ndash157 2006

[16] N Caglarirmak ldquoThenutrients of exoticmushrooms (Lentinulaedodes and Pleurotus species) and an estimated approach to thevolatile compoundsrdquo Food Chemistry vol 105 no 3 pp 1188ndash1194 2007

[17] S J Rhee S Y Cho K M Kim D-S Cha and H-J Park ldquoAcomparative study of analytical methods for alkali-soluble 120573-glucan in medicinal mushroom Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)rdquoLWT- Food Science and Technology vol 41 no 3 pp 545ndash5492008

[18] P Bobek and S Galbavy ldquoHypocholesterolemic and antiathero-genic effect of oystermushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) in rabbitsrdquoNahrungFood vol 43 no 5 pp 339ndash342 1999

[19] M S Fountoulakis S N Dokianakis M E Kornaros G GAggelis and G Lyberatos ldquoRemoval of phenolics in olive millwastewaters using the white-rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatusrdquoWater Research vol 36 no 19 pp 4735ndash4744 2002

[20] M Akyuz and S Kirbag ldquoAntimicrobial activity of Pleurotuseryngii var ferulae grown on various agro-wastesrdquo EurAsianJournal of BioSciences vol 63 no 2 pp 58ndash63 2009

[21] U Lindequist T H Niedermeyer and W D Julich ldquoThe phar-macological potential of mushroomrdquo Evidence-Based Comple-mentary and Alternative Medicine vol 2 no 3 pp 285ndash2992005

[22] B A Iwalokun U A Usen A A Otunba and D K OlukoyaldquoComparative phytochemical evaluation antimicrobial andantioxidant properties of Pleurotus ostreatusrdquoAfrican Journal ofBiotechnology vol 6 no 15 pp 1732ndash1739 2007

[23] L K Jagadish V V Krishnan R Shenbhagaraman and VKaviyarasan ldquoComparitive study on the antioxidant anticancerand antimicrobial property of Agaricus bisporus (J E Lange)Imbach before and after boilingrdquo African Journal of Biotechnol-ogy vol 8 no 4 pp 654ndash661 2009

[24] M J M Maciel A Castro e Silva and H C T RibeiroldquoIndustrial and biotechnological applications of ligninolyticenzymes of the basidiomycota a reviewrdquo Electronic Journal ofBiotechnology vol 13 no 6 pp 1ndash13 2010

6 Advances in Agriculture

[25] G Pandiarajan R Govindaraj J Mareeswaran and B MakeshKumar ldquoAntibacterial activity and heavymetal accumulation ofedible oyster mushroom (Pleurotus Sajor-Caju) grown on twosubstratesrdquo International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceu-tical Sciences vol 4 no 2 pp 238ndash240 2012

[26] I C Okwulehie and E I Odunce ldquoEvaluation of the myco-chemical and mineral composition of some tropical ediblemushroomsrdquo Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environ-ment vol 6 pp 163ndash170 2004

[27] C L Dikeman L L Bauer E A Flickinger and G CFahey Jr ldquoEffects of stage of maturity and cooking on thechemical composition of select mushroom varietiesrdquo Journal ofAgricultural and Food Chemistry vol 53 no 4 pp 1130ndash11382005

[28] V P Mane S S Patil A A Syed and M M V BaigldquoBioconversion of low quality lignocellulosic agricultural wasteinto edible protein by Pleurotus sajor-caju (Fr) Singerrdquo Journalof Zhejiang University Science B (Biomedicine amp Biotechnology)vol 8 no 10 pp 745ndash751 2007

[29] O O Kuforiji and I O Fasidi ldquoBiodegradation of agro-industrial wastes by a ediblemushroomPleurotus tuber-regium(Fr)rdquo Journal of Environmental Biology vol 30 no 3 pp 659ndash661 2009

[30] S Kulshreshtha N Mathur P Bhatnagar and B L Jain ldquoBiore-mediation of industrial waste through mushroom cultivationrdquoJournal of Environmental Biology vol 31 no 4 pp 441ndash4442010

[31] R Naraian J Srivastava and S K Garg ldquoInfluence of dairyspent wash (DSW) on different cultivation phases and yieldresponse of two Pleurotus mushroomsrdquoAnnals of Microbiologyvol 61 no 4 pp 853ndash862 2011

[32] J Poppe ldquoUse of agricultural waste material in the cultivationof mushroomsrdquoMushroom Science vol 15 pp 3ndash23 2000

[33] E Kalmis and S Sargin ldquoCultivation of two Pleurotus specieson wheat straw substrates containing olive mill waste waterrdquoInternational Biodeterioration amp Biodegradation vol 53 no 1pp 43ndash47 2004

[34] D Pant U G Reddy and A Adholeya ldquoCultivation of oystermushrooms on wheat straw and bagasse substrate amendedwith distillery effluentrdquo World Journal of Microbiology andBiotechnology vol 22 no 3 pp 267ndash275 2006

[35] R D Rai ldquoProduction of edible fungirdquo in Fungal Biotechnologyin Agriculture Food and Environmental Applications D KArora P D Bridge and D Bhatnagar Eds CRC Press NewYork NY USA 2003

[36] B O Onyango V A Palapala P F Arama S O Wagai andB M Gichimu ldquoSuitability of selected supplemented substratesfor cultivation of Kenyan native wood ear mushrooms (Auricu-laria auricula)rdquoAmerican Journal of Food Technology vol 6 no5 pp 395ndash403 2011

[37] C P Pokhrel N Kalyan U Budathoki and R K P YadvldquoCultivation of Pleurotus sajor-caju using different agricul-tural residuesrdquo International Journal of Agricultural Policy andResearch vol 1 no 2 pp 019ndash023 2013

[38] A Kivaisi F Magingo and B Mamiro ldquoPerformance of Pleu-rotus flabellatuson water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) shootsat two different temperature and relative humidity regimesrdquoTanzania Journal of Science vol 29 no 2 pp 11ndash18 2004

[39] E M Moda J Horii and M H F Spoto ldquoEdible mushroompleurotus sajor-caju production on washed and supplementedsugarcane bagasserdquo Scientia Agricola vol 62 no 2 pp 127ndash1322005

[40] R Bisaria M Madan and P Vasudevan ldquoUtilisation of agro-residues as animal feed through bioconversionrdquo BioresourceTechnology vol 59 no 1 pp 5ndash8 1997

[41] F G de Siqueira E T Martos R da Silva and E S DiasldquoCultivation of Pleurotus sajor-caju on banana stalk and Bahiagrass based substratesrdquoHorticultura Brasileira vol 29 no 2 pp199ndash204 2011

[42] V K V Karuppuraj S C Sekarenthiran and K P K PerumalldquoYield improvement of Calocybe indica fruiting bodies (milkymushroom) from locally available unexplored lignocellulosicsubstratesrdquo International Journal of Scientific and Research vol3 no 8 pp 41ndash44 2014

Nutrition and Metabolism

Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Food ScienceInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

International Journal of

Microbiology

Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2013Hindawiwwwhindawicom

The Scientific World Journal

Volume 2018

Hindawiwwwhindawicom

Applied ampEnvironmentalSoil Science

Volume 2018

AgricultureAdvances in

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

PsycheHindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

BiodiversityInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

ScienticaHindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Plant GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Biotechnology Research International

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Forestry ResearchInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

BotanyJournal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

EcologyInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Veterinary Medicine International

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Cell BiologyInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

BioMed Research International

Agronomy

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

International Journal of

Submit your manuscripts atwwwhindawicom

Nutrition and Metabolism

Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Food ScienceInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

International Journal of

Microbiology

Hindawi Publishing Corporation httpwwwhindawicom Volume 2013Hindawiwwwhindawicom

The Scientific World Journal

Volume 2018

Hindawiwwwhindawicom

Applied ampEnvironmentalSoil Science

Volume 2018

AgricultureAdvances in

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

PsycheHindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

BiodiversityInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

ScienticaHindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Plant GenomicsInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Biotechnology Research International

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Forestry ResearchInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

BotanyJournal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

EcologyInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Veterinary Medicine International

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Cell BiologyInternational Journal of

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

BioMed Research International

Agronomy

Hindawiwwwhindawicom Volume 2018

International Journal of

Submit your manuscripts atwwwhindawicom