Effect of Honey, Palm Oil and NPK Fertilizer on the Growth of Oyster Mushrooms Cultivated on Sawdust

The study was carried out to determine the effect of honey, palm oil and NPK fertilizer on the growth of Pleurotus pulmonarius (Fr.) Quel. and Pleurotus ostreatus (Jack.) Kumm. on Celtis zenkeri Engl. sawdust. Composted sawdust was supplemented with honey, palm oil and NPK fertilizer at 0%, 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% on the dry weight basis and inoculated with 5% spawn. The substrate amended with 4% palm oil was fully colonized by Pleurotus ostreatus and P. pulmonarius after 26.0±2.1 and 32.2±1.3 days, respectively.  The mushroom took shorter time (43 days) for primordial emergence at 6% palm oil. Average of 55 fruitbodies of P. ostreatus was harvested from 4% palm oil supplemented sawdust. The best mushroom yield was recorded from 8% palm oil (278.5 ±5.0 g) and 8% honey (270.1±2.7 g). The highest biological efficiency was observed at 8 % palm oil (77.36±1.5 %) and 8 % honey (75.03±2.5 %) for P. ostreatus. The two mushrooms species performed significantly (p=0.05) with palm oil and honey supplementation. The best performance was observed at 6% and 8% supplementation with palm oil and honey. The research has shown that supplementation of sawdust substrate with honey and palm oil at 4 - 8% can be a good formulation for commercial cultivation of oyster mushrooms.