Growth behaviour and yield of blue oyster mushroom on the basis of various spawn as well as bed substrates

Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sp) belonging to class Basidiomycetes and Family Agaricaceae is popularly known as ‘dhingri’ in India. It constitutes thirty percent of total production and ranks third among the cultivated mushrooms grown widely in temperate, tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Hypsizygus ulmarius is an edible mushroom, also known as elm oyster mushroom or blue oyster mushroom. It was introduced for commercial production for the first time in India by IIHR. The present investigation was undertaken during 2018-19 to evaluate the growth behavior and yield of blue oyster mushroom on the basis of various spawn as well as bed substrates. Among all the five grains tested, sorghum grain required the least days (14.50 days) for spawn run and mycelium is tightly attached with grains. Sorghum grain was considered as best treatment also in the context of yield and biological efficiency of 1539.50g/bed and 76.98% respectively. Among five different substrates, sugarcane bagasse took minimum time for spawn run (16.50 days)which significantly differs from other substrates and maximum time required for spawn run was observed in groundnut hulls (23.75 days). Minimum time required for pinhead emergence was in maize stalk (8.25 days). Paddy straw substrate gave the highest yield (1552.00g) as well as highest biological efficiency of 77.60%.