Assessment of cross compatibility in three strains of <i>Pleurotus species </i>and yield attributes of the surviving progenies

Abstract

Despite the upsurge in mushroom consumption in Nigeria, breeding of new strains for improved quality, early maturity and biological efficiency is a new concept. This study investigated cross-compatibility among three mushroom parental strains (Pleurotus ostreatus, P. tuber-regium and Lentinus edodes) and assessed yield attributes in parents and the progenies of compatible strains – (P. ostreatus and L. edodes). The crosses were carried out at the Department of Biology, Kogi State University, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria using the dual culture technique. Among the twenty-seven combinations, only five (5) hybridized successfully. Crosses between P. tuber-regium and the other two strains (P. ostreatus and L. edodes) failed to yield viable progenies while the cross between P. ostreatus (po) and L. edodes (le) yielded five (5) new strains. Data collected on morphological and yield attributes of the compatible parents and the new strains revealed that three (3) strains (po1 x le1, po3 x le2 and po3 x le3) produced white fluffy colony growth morphology which represented the characters of P. ostreatus while the remaining two strains (po2 x le1 and po2 x le3) had milky, appressed morphology, representing the attributes of L. edodes. The strain from cross combination po3 x le3 completed spawn run in 37 days which was the fastest (ρ < 0.05) among the strains and also exhibited superiority (ρ < 0.05 or ρ < 0.01) for all other attributes including fresh yield and biological efficiency over other strains and the two parents. Two other strains viz. po2 x le3 and po3 x le2 also exhibited significantly (ρ < 0.05) higher yield and biological efficiency than either of the parental strains. These new strains can be exploited for commercial production of improved mushrooms in Nigeria.

Key words: Cross Compatibility, Pleurotus, Dual Culture, Yield, Biology efficiency