Production of commercial and Amazonian strains of Pleurotus ostreatus in plant waste / Produção de linhagens comerciais e amazônicas de Pleurotus ostreatus em resíduos de plantas

Abstract

Pleurotus spp. have the ability to grow on a wide variety of lignocellulosic materials, which opens up a range of options to be explored. The use of locally available residues and native strains can reduce production costs, thus making fungiculture a potential economic activity in developing regions, such as northern Brazil. The aim of this research was to compare the production and nutritional characteristics of different strains of P. ostreatus, cultivated on lignocellulosic residues available in Amazonas state, Brazil. The native (474 and 1467) and commercial (542 and 885) strains were cultivated in marupá (Simarouba amara) and pine (Pinus sp.) sawdust, açaí (Euterpe oleracea) seeds and elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) straw. Productivity was evaluated according to biological efficiency, yield and loss of organic matter. Some physicochemical and nutritional parameters were also evaluated. In general, among the residues evaluated for mushroom cultivation, the elephant grass substrates (EG) showed better physicochemical properties in terms of moisture, ash content (minerals), hemicellulose and lignin. Additionally, the EG-based substrate resulted in the best productive parameters (yield and EB) for all strains studied, with emphasis on strain 1467, which is native to the Amazon. The basidiocarps of the native strains (474 and 1467) presented a nutritional composition that is similar to the commercial strains (885 and 542), and the mushrooms grown in EG-based residue, in general, presented the best nutritional compositions. Thus, strain 1467 of Pleurotus ostreatus, native to the Amazon, shows promise for commercial purposes, when cultivated in elephant grass residue.