Bangladesh J. Mushroom.

1(1): 51-55, 2007 (June)

Efficacy of Five Different Growth Regulators on the Yield and Yield Contributing Attributes of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacquin ex Fr.) Kummer
Nuhu Alam, S.M. Ruhul Amin1 and Nirod Chandra Sarker1 Department of Botany, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh Abstract
This experiment was performed to evaluate the effects of five important growth regulators, i.e. Aspersine, IAA, IBA, NAA and GA3 on yield and yield contributing parameters of Pleurotus ostreatus. Each regulator was used at the concentration of 50mg/l. Among the five hormones GA3 showed a positive effect on number of effective fruiting body, stalk length, biological yield, economic yield and biological efficiency of the first flash. Its application increased the biological and economic yield by 18% and 16%, respectively. On the other hand, the remaining growth regulators exerted negative effects on the yield and yield contributing parameters. Hence, this, study discourages the use of growth regulators in high concentration to increase the biological and economic yield, with the possible exclusion of GA3.

Key words: Hormones, growth, yield and Pleurotus ostreatus. INTRODUCTION Mushrooms can serve as a rich source of proteins, minerals and vitamins (Dey,1996), which can be recommended to solve the existing malnutrition problems, specially the protein energy malnutrition, in Bangladesh. Pleurotus ostreatus, commonly known as oyster mushroom, is fast gaining acceptability among the farmers, because it can be grown all the year round under the climatic conditions of Bangladesh. But comparatively higher market price of this mushroom discourages the local consumers to buy it- a fact which is most likely to make the farmers less interested in its production. The production technology of oyster mushroom must, therefore, be improved in order to minimize the cost per unit production. Since after Pegg (1973) reported that sporophores of Agaricus bisporus contained gibberellin-like substances and that the exogenous application of sporophore extract had no effect on fruiting bodies or mycelia, several investigators tried to evaluate the effects of individual plant hormones on different stages of oyster mushroom production (Halder et al., 1998). Dey (1996) found 72.33% increase in yield by using 15 mg/L GA3, while Halder et al. (1998) reported only 9% increased yield over control by using 10 mg/ L IAA at the time of substrate preparation. Barclay (1985) suggested that timing and concentration might be of critical importance in the application of hormones. Ashrafuzzaman et al.(2005) found that 15mg/L GA3, 100mg/L IAA and 6mg/L NAA get the highly significant economic yield, with the highest yield being obtained with GA3. Considering the importance of plant hormones on the yield of mushroom, the experiment was conducted to study the performance of different plant growth regulators on the yield and yield parameters of Pleurotus osteratus.

National Mushroom Development and Extension Centre, Sobhanbag, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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MATERIALS AND METHODS The present experiment was conducted at National Mushroom Development and Extension Centre, Savar, Dhaka during February to June, 2006. Five growth regulators, namely, Aspergine (Asn), Indole 3-acetic Acid (IAA), Gibberellic Acid (GA3), Indole Butyric Acid (IBA) and Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) were tested in this experiment. Each growth regulator was used at the concentration of 50 mg/l. Preparation of spawn packets: For each 500 g spawn packet, 116.7 g saw dust, 58.3 g wheat bran and 3.0 g CaCO3 were mixed and moisture was adjusted at 65% by adding water. The mixture was filled into polyethylene bags and was autoclaved. Sterilized mixture in packet was inoculated with mother culture and allowed to colonize by the fungus. After 25 days of inoculation, when colonization was completed, the spawn packets were used for the cultivation of oyster mushroom. Application of hormones: Five spawn packets each of which represented a replicate were used for each treatment. The spawn packets were opened by cutting a small area near the neck and were soaked in hormone solutions (5 L) in a bucket for half an hour and squeezed to remove excess solution. Spawn packets under control were soaked in tap water.The spawn packets were placed on the shelf of a culture room at 25-300C following Completely Randomized Design (CRD).The room was provided with proper ventilation to allow enough diffused light. Relative humidity in the culture room was maintained at 80-85% by sprinkling water. Mushrooms were harvested after 48 hours of primordia initiation by twisting to uproot from the base. After completion of the first harvest, the open surface of the substrate was scratched with a tea spoon and soaked again in growth regulators and then the packets were incubated as before. Similar activities were done for third flush. Collection of data: Fully matured fruiting bodies were harvested and data on yield contributing parameters were estimated. The number of fruiting bodies, weight of the sporophore and effective fruiting bodies, diameter and thickness of pileus, length and girth of stalk and dry matter content were calculated according to the methods described by Ahmed (1998). Biological efficiency (BE) (for 1st flash) was determined by the formulae: BE (%) = Biological yield (g) 100/ Total substrate used (g) Analysis of data: The data obtained from growth regulators were analyzed using SPSS program. Results were expressed as mean SEM. (P<0.05 was considered statistically significant). All parameters for inter group differences were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Application of aspergine gave significant decrease on yield and yield contributing characters of oyster mushroom (Table 1). Among the parameters recorded, application of

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aspergine showed a negative effect on number of effecting fruiting body, thickness and diameter of pileus, stalk length, biological and economical yield compared with control. Only stalk girth showed significant increase. Biological and economical yield decreased by 38% compared with control. Application of IAA gave decreasing effect on yield and yield contributing characters of oyster mushroom (Table 1). Among the parameters recorded, application of IAA showed a negative effect on number of effecting fruiting body, thickness of pileus, stalk length, biological and economical yield compared with control. Only pileus diameter and stalk girth showed slight increase. Biological and economical yield decreased by 24% compared with control. Application of NAA did not show significant effect on yield and yield contributing characters of oyster mushroom (Table 1). Application of gibberellic acid increased slightly, but not significantly the yield and yield contributing characters of oyster mushroom (Table 1). Among the parameters recorded, application of GA3 showed a positive effect on number of effecting fruiting body, stalk length, stalk girth and biological and economical yield compared with control. Only thickness of pileus showed slight decrease. The biological and economical yield increased by 18%. Application of IBA gave slight decrease (not significant) on yield and yield contributing characters of oyster mushroom (Table 1). Among the parameters recorded, application of IAA showed a negative effect on number of effecting fruiting body, thickness of pileus, pileus diameter, stalk length, biological and economical yield compared with control. Only stalk girth showed significant increase. Biological and economical yield decreased by 12% compared with control. The biological efficiencies are shown in Fig. 1.
Table 1. Effects of five different growth regulators on the yield and yield contributing characters of oyster mushroom Treatment (50 mg/l) Number of Pileus Pileus Fruit Diameter Thickness body (cm) (cm) Tap water 21.3 6.3a 5.3 a,b 0.48 a Asn 15 2.6a,b 5.5 a,b 0.4 b b b 6.4 0.43 a,b IAA 11 5.5 NAA 19.1 1a 5.5 a,b 0.43 a,b a a,c 25.3 12.25 5.0 0.3 c GA3 a a,c IBA 18.3 8 5.0 0.38b Stalk Stalk Length Girth (cm) (cm) 3.6 a 0.86 a 3.0 b 1.0 b b 3.0 1.1 b 3.34 c 0.97 a,b 3.9 d 0.94 a,b 3.53 a 1.0 b Biological Yield (g) 68.312a,b 42.31.4 d 51.6 8.3a,d 70 6.3a,b 80 15.2b,c 60 5.8a,b Economic Yield (g) 65 11 a,b 40 1.5 d 49 8.3 d 67.3 8 a,b 76.6 14.5b,c 57.6 5.2a,b

The results are the meanSEM. Values in the same column that do not share a common superscript are significantly different at P<0.05 (one way ANOVA then LSD post hoc comparison); Asn, Aspergine; IAA, Indole-3- Acetic Acid; NAA, Naphthalene Acetic Acid;GA3, Gibberellic Acid; IBA, Indole Butyric Acid.

Although aspergine stimulates mycelium growth in tissue culture of oyster mushroom, it has no significant role in increasing biological and economical yield in high concentration compared with control. It seems probable that aspergine, in high concentration, does not stimulate cell division, elongation and enlargement, since application of aspergine does not increase number of fruiting bodies, stalk length, pileus diameter, pileus girth.

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T0, Tap Water; T1, Aspergine; T2, Indole-3- Acetic Acid; T3, Naphthalene Acetic Acid; T4, Gibberellic Acid; T5, Indole Butyric Acid Fig. 1. Effect of five different growth regulators on biological efficiency of Pleurotus ostreatus

Application of IAA (an auxin) in high concentration does not increase the biological and economical yield compared with control. Although auxins cause cell elongation by increasing the osmotic solutes of the cells, reducing the wall pressure, increasing the permeability of cells to water, increasing cell wall synthesis and inducing the synthesis of specific proteins, (Hans, 1997), it seems probable from this study that higher concentration of IAA cannot stimulate cell elongation as IAA application failed to increase the number of fruiting bodies, pileus diameter, pileus girth and stalk length. NAA and IBA, in higher concentrations, show no significant effect on cell division and enlargement as is evident from the study since application of NAA and IBA has failed to have any significant increase in the number of fruiting bodies, pileus diameter, pileus girth and stalk length. Application of GA3 in high concentration, increases biological and economical yield by increasing cell division and enlargement (Hans, 1997)as is evident from this study since application of GA3 resulted in enlargement of pileus diameter and pileus girth and elongation of stalk length. Ashrafuzzaman et al.(2005) reported similar results. It also increases cell organelles as well as water content. Considering these findings, this study does not encourage the use of hormones in high concentration to increase the biological and economical yield. However, use of GA3 significantly increases the yield and, hence, its use in high concentration can be recommended.

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REFERENCES Ahmed, S. 1998.Performance of different substrate on the growth and yield of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sajor caju) (Fr.). M.S. thesis. Department of Horticulture. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh. pp. 1-50. Ashrafuzzaman, M., Sultana, N., Hossain, M.M. and Mian, I.H. 2005. Effect of three growth regulators on yield and protein content of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus).Bangladesh J. Life Sci.17(2): 50-55. Barclay, G. B. 1985. The effect of four plant growth regulators on yield and size of the cultivated mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, M.S. thesis The Pensylvania State University, USA. pp. 1125. Dey, B. C. 1996. Effect of growth regulators on the growth and yield of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sajor caju) (Fr.). M.S. thesis. Department of Horticulture. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh. pp. 1-60. Halder, A. K., Rahim, M. A., Chowdhury, M. S. H. & Haider, M. A. 1998. Effect of growth regulators on growth and yield of mushroom. Bangladesh J Agril. Res. 23(4): 677-84. Hans, W. H. 1997. Plant Hormones. In: Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. p. 310. Pegg, G. F. 1973. Gibberellin-like substances in sporophores of Agaricus bisporus (Lange) Imbach. J. Exp. Bot. 24 (81): 675-688.