dc.description.abstract | Mushrooms have been grown all over the world for many years because of their
culinary, medicinal, bioremediation and biodegradation properties. Lack of locally
generated information on substrates for oyster mushroom cultivation has led to over
reliance on wheat straw. This is one of the major challenges facing the mushroom
sector in Kenya today. Ten different substrates were tested using plastic bag
technology in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) experiment to determine
their effect on time to pinning, number of caps, average biological efficiency (ABE),
pileus diameter, stipe length and flushing interval. Substrates tested were water
hyacinth (Eichhomia crassipes), maize cobs (Zea mays), coconut fibre (Cocos
nucifera), finger millet straw (Seteria microcheata), banana fibre (Musa sp),
sugarcane bagasse (Saccharum officinarum), sawdust (Eucalyptus sp), rice straw
(Oryza sativa), bean straw (Phaseolus vulgaris) and wheat straw (Triticum
aestivum). The pH of maize cobs, coconut fibre and sugarcane bagasse were
adjusted by liming using calcium carbonate to 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 in order to determine
the effect of pH on their productivity. Supplementation with maize germ, wheat bran
and rice bran was done on bean, finger millets, rice and wheat straws at 3% dry
weight basis to determine their effect supplementation on the productivity of these
substrates. Substrates and pH had significant (P::;0.05) effect on average biological
efficiency while supplementation had no effect. The average biological efficiency
(ABE) varied between the ten substrates from 4.0% on sawdust to 106.2% on bean
straw and the time to pinning was from 19.6 days on maize cobs to 39.9 days on
water hyacinth. Adjusting the pH of maize cobs, coconut fibre, eucalyptus sawdust
and sugarcane bagasse, increased their ABE to between four to tenfold.
Supplementation increased the average biological efficiency marginally. Choice of
substrate and correct pH adjustment are very important to profitable oyster
mushroom cultivation as was observed from the results of this study. | en |