Cultivation of the King Oyster Mushroom (Plerrotus eryngii) in Egypt

Plerrotus eryngii is an edible mushroom that highly appreciated and has a commercial potential in many countries, was newly introduced to Egypt from China. This study investigated the possibility of using some local lignocellulosic wastes as growing media. Mycelium linear growth, wheat bran supplementation level, incubation period, yield, and chemical composition of fruit bodies were estimated. The suitable wheat bran supplementation level for sawdust, soybean straw and rice straw media was 25%, which gave the maximum mycelium linear growth being 8.9, 8.4 and 7.6 mm/day. While, the maximum mycelium linear growth on sugar cane bagasse 6.7 mm/day was achieved at 30%wheat bran level. Incubation period for the different tested media ranged from 30 -41 days, sawdust recorded the shortest period, while sugar cane bagasse recorded the longest one. The maximum yield being 201 g/kg wet media and biological efficiency (BE) 65.22%was obtained when grown on sawdust. Sugar cane bagasse gave the lowest yield 139 g/ kg wet media with biological efficiency of 45.71%. Pleurotus eryngii grown on different tested media contained 87.63 - 90.26% moisture, 21.33 - 24.08% crude protein, 2.96 - 3.78% ether extract, and 6.54 - 8.02% ash. Cultivation of Pleurotus eryngii under local conditions and using the available cheap lignocellulosic wastes in Egypt is an important achievement, since this type of mushroom is highly prized for their nutritive and medicinal value