Cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus on weed plants

Oyster mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.:Fr.) Kumm. ITCC 3308 (collected from Indian Type Culture Collection, IARI, New Delhi, India, 110012) was grown on dry weed plants, Leonotis sp, Sida acuta, Parthenium argentatum, Ageratum conyzoides, Cassia sophera, Tephrosia purpurea and Lantana camara. Leonotis sp. was the best substrate in fruit body production of P. ostreatus when it was mixed with rice straw (1:1, wet wt/wet wt) for mushroom cultivation. The fruiting time for P. ostreatus was also less on Leonotis sp. than on any other weed substrates tested in the present investigation. T. purpurea was the least suited weed for oyster mushroom cultivation. The main problem of oyster mushroom cultivation on weed substrates was found to be low yield in the second flush that could be overcome by blending weed plants with rice straw. The protein contents of the fruit bodies obtained from Cassia sophera, Parthenium argentatum and Leonotis sp. were not only better than rice straw but also from the rice straw supplemented weeds.