Suitability of Selected Supplemented Substrates for Cultivation of Kenyan Native Wood Ear Mushrooms (Auricularia auricula)

Abstract

Different organic substrates namely maize cobs, wheat straw, grass straw and sugarcane bagasse supplemented with either wheat or rice bran were evaluated for production of two Kenyan native strains of wood ear mushroom [Auricularia auricula (L. ex Hook.) Underw.]. The objective was to evaluate the suitability of these substrates for cultivation of Kenyan native wood ear mushroom. Plastic bag technology was used with treatments arranged in a completely randomized design replicated three times. Samples of black and brown strains of the wood ear mushroom collected from woody stems of dead and dying trees within Kakamega forest were used in this study. Data was collected on days to pinning, fruit body quality, fruit body yields (number and fresh weight) and biological efficiency. The data collected was subjected to analysis of variance using SAS version 9.1. Mean separation was done using LSD and effects declared significant at 5% level. The two mushroom strains were not significantly (p>0.05) different in performance except for the number of fruit bodies where the black strain yielded significantly (p<0.05) higher than the brown one. The best performance was obtained from maize cobs and wheat straw substrates supplemented with wheat bran and these combinations were recommended to wood ear mushroom growers.