Influence of waste paper supplementation to wheat straw on the growth of the oyster mushroom Pleurotus sajor caju

Abstract

Mushroom cultivation is an economically feasible bio-technological process for conversion of various lignocellulosic wastes in to protein rich nutritious food. This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the suitability of waste paper supplemented with wheat straw and wheat bran for Oyster mushroom cultivation. Therefore, an experiment with different concentration of waste paper supplemented with wheat straw and wheat bran were evaluated for cultivation of Pluerotus sajor caju and their effect on productivity and biological efficiency (BE). Maximum BE (94.92%) was obtained in the treatment waste paper (50%) + wheat straw (25%) + wheat bran (25%) while a minimum BE of 56.82% was achieved when waste paper was used alone for the cultivation of mushroom. The study revealed that waste paper along with wheat straw and wheat bran can be successfully used for oyster mushroom production as a promising alternative to wheat straw.