Vol. 10, Issue 10 (2021)

Author(s):
Shivani, KPS Kushwaha, Arun Kushwaha, Omkar Singh and Anjali Patil

Abstract:
Mushrooms have been considered as functional foods since the time immemorial owing to its nutritional and medicinal properties. Similar to the agricultural crops, the biofortification of mushrooms using nanoparticles is an emerging technology in the field of mushroom cultivation. It has been widely adopted to delineate micronutrient deficiencies and increasing biological yield of mushrooms. Among the cultivated mushrooms, oyster mushroom is highly popular as they are rich in nutrients, antioxidants and trace minerals. The present investigation was carried out to at the Mushroom Research and Training Centre, GBPUAT, Pantnagar, to determine the impact of zinc sulphate nanoparticles at four different concentrations viz., 10 to 40 ppm on the biological yield of oyster mushroom. The results revealed that all the tested concentration had significantly higher yield as compared to the control. Among the tested concentrations, 10 ppm concentration significantly increased the total yield and biological efficiency of oyster mushroom. It was followed by 20 ppm, 30 ppm and 40 ppm, respectively. The total yield was 1088.33g, 964.98g, 889.98g and 874.99g in 10, 20, 30 and 40 ppm respectively as compared to 724.98g in control. Similar trend was observed in the biological efficiency as well with the 10ppm concentration having the highest biological efficiency of 108.83 percent which was followed by 20 ppm (96.50%), 30 ppm (89.00%) and 40 ppm (87.50%). The results obtained in the study can be used for increasing the production of the oyster mushroom in the country as well to decrease the zinc malnutrition.