ARECANUT

Utilisation of waste of arecanut plantation

In India, the cultivation of mushrooms is limited to three species viz., white button mushroom, paddy straw mushroom and oyster mushroom. Oyster mushrooms are the ideal ones for the arecanut sector due to its ability to utilize lignin rich arecanut wastes and the climatic conditions prevailing in plantations are also ideal for its growth. Oyster mushrooms, known as wood fungi, are endowed with ligninolytic and cellulolytic properties to utilize a wide range of agricultural residues as substrates for growth and fruit body production. Paddy straw is the most widely used substrate for its cultivation. But its increasing cost and decreasing availability are factors, which prompted research workers to look for alternate substrates for oyster mushroom cultivation. Conditions have been standardized for cultivation of oyster mushrooms using arecanut leaf sheath and bunch waste. The steps in oyster mushrooms cultivation include development of spawn, substrate preparation, spawning, incubation for spawn running and opening and maintenance of beds for cropping.

Spawn, the vegetative seed of the fungus, can be obtained either from research institutions or can be prepared with adequate training. An efficient and stable strain of Pleurotus isolated from sporocarps should be used for spawn preparation using grains such as wheat, sorghum, maize, jowar or paddy straw as substrates. Pasteurization of substrates is necessary to avoid contamination and to obtain higher yield. Steam sterilization, hot water treatment and chemical sterilization are the effective methods. Steam sterilization at 1.02 kg/cm2 pressure in an autoclave for one hour is an efficient method of sterilization. Hot water dip of the substrate at 80°C for 60-120 minutes is another method, which can be easily adopted. Chemical sterilization method involves treatment with formalin and bavistin in substrate soaking water for 18 hours. Arecanut bunch waste and leafstalk are pasteurized by soaking in a solution of 500 ppm formalin + 25 ppm bavistin.

Polyethylene bag method is the commonly followed method of cultivation. Polyethylene bags (150-200 gauge) of 66 x 45 cm size are punched to facilitate cross ventilation. Spawning is done by multilayered technique using 3 per cent spawn. For spawn running and cropping, the filled up bags are incubated in cool dark place. In 15 to 20 days white thread like mycelium covers the entire substrate and the whole mass turns into a solid cylindrical structure. At this stage the polyethylene bags are ripped open and incubated for cropping by hanging or by stacking on the shelves of mushroom house with watering daily twice after two days of opening of beds.

Low cost mushroom sheds can be built with coconut/areca stem and plaited coconut leaves inside arecanut plantations. Multilayer rack can be prepared with coconut/ areca stem inside the shed to keep the spawned substrate for spawn running and cropping. Ventilators with insect proof nets are to be provided on all sides of the shed. Mushroom production is 69 per cent and 49.8 per cent in a cropping period of 47 to 52 days in arecanut bunch waste and leaf sheath, respectively.

Last updated: 22-05-2008