The objective of this work was to evaluate the productivity, biological efficiency, fresh matter, and centesimal composition of mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus (BF24) and Pleurotus sajor-caju (PSC96/03 and PSC01/06) grown in pasteurized elephant grass substrate (Pennisetum purpureum). It was also assessed the initial and final Carbon/Nitrogen ratio. The dried 2-cm-particulate substrate was moist for 24 hours and pasteurized at 100ºC during 30 minutes. Then, it was added 3% of inoculum of each strain. The substrate was placed into 1-kg polypropylene bags. The bags were incubated at 26ºC and relative humidity of 75 to 90%. In the fructification phase they were incubated at 23±3ºC. The strain BF24 had the highest fresh matter (281.19g), biological efficiency (112.46%) and productivity (28.11%). The substrate having initial Carbon/Nitrogen ratio of 162:1 showed the lowest final ratio (68:1), after P. sajor-caju (PSC01/06) cultivation. The strain PSC96/03 showed higher protein content than the others, and BF24 had the highest lipid content. There were no significant differences for carbohydrate and ash contents for the different species and strains. The strains BF24 and PSC01/06 had similar fiber amount, but higher than PSC96/03. The two species of Pleurotus can be cultivated in pasteurized elephant grass, supressing the composting process.
Pleurotus ostreatus; Pleurotus sajor-caju; Pennisetum purpureum; biological efficiency; productivity
