Three-plant stubble (Family: Fabaceae) as a substrate for cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.) P. Kummer., in Mexico

Mushroom cultivation is an economically feasible bio-technological process for conversion of various agricultural by-products. In Mexico, a large quantity of lignocellulosic residues is generated and several of them have been used as a substrate in the cultivation of Pleurotus spp. Thus, high nutritional value food is produced at a relatively low cost. In this study, fermented chickpea stubble (Cicer arietinum L.); bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) stubble sun-dried were used as a substrate for growing a strain of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.) P. Kummer. (IE-8). On the chickpea stubble, the spawning was carried out on three, five and seven days of fermentated (FCS-3, FCS-5 and FCS-7, respectively) substrate. Highest productivity was obtained on the FCS-3 substrate with the formation of first primordia between 15 and 17 days; crop cycle between 44 to 49 days, with 156% of biological efficiency (BE), 46.8% of yield (Y) and 3.3% of production rate (PR). In the other treatments, forming first primordia was between 16 to 35 days, crop cycles between 43 and 61 days, with BE from 76.2% to 130.2%, Y between 16.8% to 39.0% and PR between 1.7% to 2.9%. Stubbles studied can be used as a substrate for the cultivation of the strain IE-8 on a small to large scale in the regions where they are generated, mainly the stubble of the chickpea plant.