Utilisation of non-composted oil palm waste materials in the cultivation of Pleurotus sajor-caju

The rising competition for rubber wood sawdust (RWSD) as the raw material from different industries trigers the need of searching alternative substrate materials
for the cultivation of Pleurotus sajor caju (PSC). The utilisation of palm oil wastes, namely the empty fruit bunch (EFB) and pressed palm fibre (PPF) in the cultivation of PSC was carried out to examine their effects on the physical growth performances of
PSC and the nutritional constituents of their respective harvested mushroom fruiting body. The cultivation results showed that RWSD added with 25% EFB or 25% PPF enhanced the rate of complete spawn run (33 Days). As for the rate of primordial formation, 25% EFB + RWSD, RWSD, and 100% PPF as culturing substrate showed the fastest rate in first flush (3.67±O.58 Days), second flush (12±2 Days) and third flush (24.67±4.62 Days) of primordial formation respectively. Fresh weight of harvested PSC fruiting body from the first flush until third flush showed the highest in substrate mixtures containing PPF (70.26±13.39, 60.56±5.87, and 50.52±15.27g respectively), while 25%
PPF + RWSD achieved the highest BE from 3 flushes of mushroom harvests (53.73%). Nutritional constituents of fruiting body in terms of crude protein reached the highest by 25% PPF + RWSD (20.61±0.09g/100g), while crude fat and ash content reached the highest by 100% EFB (1.54±O.28 and 8.72±0.24). Future study for this research
will be focus in identifying the factors which control the growth of PSC so that the full potential of EFB and PPF for the cultivation of PSC can be applied.