INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY

Volume 15, No. 06, Month NOVEMBER, Year 2019, Pages 1033 - 1038

Philippine agricultural corn cob wastes as alternative spawning materials for three pleurotus species

Tolentino, J. J. and Kalaw, S. P.

Abstract Download PDF

In the pursuit of finding cheaper but efficient materials for spawn production, agricultural wastes such as corn cobs were utilized as carriers of mycelia instead of common grains. Cobs of sweet corn cobs, glutinous corn, and yellow corn were evaluated as possible spawning materials for the mother culture of Pleurotus pulmonarius, Pleurotus florida, and Pleurotus sajor-caju. Among the three varieties of corn cobs tested, sweet corn cob was found to be the best spawning material for Pleurotus species with the shortest incubation period, 10.40 days for P. pulmonarius; 10.20 days for P. florida, and 10.60 days for P. sajor-caju. These species of Pleurotus had luxuriant mycelial growth, with very thick mycelial density recorded on sweet corn cobs. This is a benchmark study in the utilization of three corn varieties as efficient spawning materials for the mother culture of three Pleurotus species.

Keywords

Pleurotus, corn cobs, spawn, sweet corn, glutinous corn, yellow corn

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