Peptone supplementation of potato dextrose agar medium proved better for mushroom mycelial development

An experiment was conducted to assess the suitability of different media on mycelial development of five different mushrooms in College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala. The medium used was potato dextrose agar (PDA), carrot dextrose agar (CDA), yeast malt agar (YMA), malt extract agar (MEA) and potato dextrose peptone agar (PDPA) and study was conducted using Pleurotus florida, Hypsizygous ulmerius, Calocybe indica, Agaricus bitorquis, Volvariella volvaceae. Amongst various media used PDPA was found best in enhancing the mycelial coverage of P. florida (9 cm on 6^th day) followed by H. ulmerius (8.96 cm on 6^th day) and V. volvaceae (8.93 cm on 6^th day) in 9 cm petri plates. Peptone supplementation of the PDA media have a pronounced influence on accelerating the mycelia spread of these mushrooms. PDPA was found least effective in mycelial development of C. indica which showed its inhibitory effect. At par with PDPA, MEA was also found effective in development of mycelia of V. volvaceae (8.76 cm on 6^th day). MEA turned out to be the best media for the growth of A. bitorquis (8.83 cm on 6^th day). PDA media was most effective media for development of C. indica (8.63 cm on 6^th day).