Cattle bedding waste used as a substrate in the cultivation of Agaricus blazei Murill

Abstract

The potential use of beef cattle bedding compost as a substrate for the production of the biomedical mushroom Agaricus blazei Murrill was tested and evaluated on various compost concentrations with fortified supplements. All tested concentrations (100% with equal supplement), 75, 50 and 25%) were found to be suitable for mycelial growth and fruit body development. Biological efficiency (BE) ranged from 28.6% to 70.9% in the two harvests of mushrooms. Compost with 100% and 75% were far superior to all other compost concentrations. The yield was greatest on 100% and 75% compost, with BE of 70.9% and 63.4%, respectively. Compost with 50% and 25% yielded significantly less with BE of 45.1% and 28.6%, respectively. Compost with 75% influenced faster mycelial extension, earlier spawn run, primordial initiation, earlier fruiting with bigger mushroom size, whereas higher supplement (100%) achieved a higher yield with smaller mushroom size. Our results showed that beef cattle bedding compost is a potential substrate in A. blazei cultivation; however, compost concentration selection is important to improve biological efficiency and mushroom yield.