Mycelial Growth with Nutrient Supplementation in Pure Culture and Yield, N-Analysis and Income Potential of Paddy Straw Mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) With Different Substrates

The insufficient planting materials and lack of technical know-how of V. volvacea cultivation is the one of the major problem on technology transfer for mushroom production. This research study was conducted to validate and evaluate the performance of Volvariella volvacea with different nutrient sources and substrates. This study was composed of two-parts, mycelial growth performance with different growing media (Study 1) and yield, N-analysis and income potential (Study 2). Study 1 was a single-factor experiment conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) and Study 2 used 3x5 factorial experiment also in RCBD. Test for significant differences among treatment means was done analysis of variance (ANOVA) and pairwise comparison was done with Least Significant Difference test (LSD). Analysis was facilitated by the use of statistical software. Sweet potato has the higher potential as growing media for pure culture of V. volvacea fungal inoculation. Some characteristics such as pinhead size, stipe length and biological efficiency were affected by nutrient supplement and kind of substrate. However, the most important variable which is yield was affected by substrate only. Regardless of the nutrient sources V. volvacea will grow under different substrates such as banana leaves, corn bagasse, water hyacinth and rice straw except wood shavings. Total nitrogen content converted into protein (%) was undertaken to determine its component for various purposes. Biological efficiency of substrates was higher with banana leaves, rice straw and water hyacinth is significantly different as it is supplemented with inorganic fertilizer (urea) or no nutrient added. Mushroom production under different substrates supplemented with inorganic fertilizer can give promising income. Further research and exploration on the commodity may be conducted to ensure higher efficiency in production that can be used for community acceptability, thus, contribute to increasing the supply of mushroom. As a viable enterprise, mushroom production can be engaged by farmers and households for socioeconomic upliftment.