Department of Animal Sciences, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, India
*Present address: Department of Microbiology, PAU, Ludhiana-141004, India
Laboratory and field scale experiments were conducted at various moisture levels (65,70,75, 80,85 and 90%) and different incubation periods (10,20 and 30d) to study the growth of Pleurotus florida on wheat and paddy straws. Significant changes in chemical composition were observed with more useful results in case of wheat straw. During 30 d of P. florida growth, wheat straw produced about 23% more fruiting bodies at 70% moisture level. For feeding trials, P. florida was raised on wheat straw for 30d and the spent material after sun drying, was fed to the male buffalo calves replacing 50 and 110% of the plaan wheaa straw. The spent wheat straw was equally good in comparison to the original substrate with respect to the utilization of various feed nutrients, the N retention as well as the plane of nutrition (DCP & TON values). Therefore, it is evident that plain wheat straw can be used for raising P. florida and the spent straw for feeding to the buffaloes.
