Evaluating the Performance of Tea Leaf Waste as a Substrate Supplement for Cultivating Pleurotus ostreatus L. on Groundnut Shell

Purpose: There is no recycling plan for a tea leftover waste which is available in very high quantities in Eritrea. In view of the growing importance of environmental sanitation, food security and mushroom recipe in Eritrea this study was conducted to evaluate tea leaves waste as substrate mixed with ground nut shell for Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus L.) cultivation. Method: Different substrate mixtures were prepared and filled in polythene bags and were autoclaved (121oc and 15Lbs) for 2hrs. Substrate bags were inoculated with Oyster spawn and incubated in a cultivation hat with controlled conditions. Growth parameters were recoded for each bag of each treatment and the data thus obtained were analysed statistically using R-software (R-4.3.3) at two significant levels (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01) and Chi-square test. Results: In all replications 40% tea leaf waste supplied with 58% ground nut shell showed high performance in terms of mycelium colonization in bags, growth time, yield (189.9 ± 5.0g) and biological efficiency (47.5± 1.3%) close to the control group (200±0.39g, BE= 49± 0.1%). At p-value (p < 0.01), the assessed treatments showed a significant difference with P-value 4.74E-200. All of the growth parameters were statistically different, with p-value = 0.00 at p-value (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Therefore, tea leaf waste with aforesaid percentage of groundnut shell can be used as alternative substrate, which will reduce the cost of cultivation of this prized mushroom and the technology can be transferred to the local farmers. Research Highlights: • Exploiting agro-industrial wastes for mushroom cultivation is eco-friendly. • Using agro-wastes as substrates contributes on sanitation and food security. • Groundnut shell supplied with tea leaf waste exhibited satisfactory yield. • Spent tea waste (40%) can serve as alternative supplement to wheat bran. • This study promotes low cost cultivation for small scale mushroom farmers.