Effect of temperature
The substrates in the bottle placed in the incubator at
25
o
C were colonized by oyster within 15 days where as the one put
at beach with temperature varying from 3 to 19
o
C was colonized
within 21 days. At the temperature below 14
o
C, the growth of the
oyster was found to be so slow that they couldn’t give primordia
within 28 days. In stead 46 days were required for pinhead
formation at temperature below 14
o
C and the yield was also very
small (table 1). To increase the temperature, the room was heated
using wood charcoal. For most mushrooms, mycelial invasion is
favored at higher temperature and fruit body formation at
relatively lower [9, 11]. On the other hand, Alam et al. [14]
investigated that the maximum growth is recorded at 25
o
C and the
lowest at 15
o
C and no significance difference is observed between
25
o
C and 30
o
C. Therefore, the temperature ranging between 25-30
o
C is best for mycelial growth of P. ostreatus. However, edible
mushrooms cultivated between 15-20
o
C present better quality and
durability than those at 25
o
C [20]. In addition, P. ostreatus grew
faster at 30 °C [20]. In general, oyster yield decreases when the
temperature decreases in different climatic zones of Pakistan [21].