Morphological and Molecular Identification of four Brazilian Commercial Isolates of Pleurotus spp. and Cultivation on Corncob

The species of Pleurotus have great commercial importance and adaptability for growth and fructification within a wide variety of agro-industrial lignocellulosic wastes. In this study, two substrates prepared from ground corncobs supplemented with rice bran and charcoal were tested for mycelium growth kinetics in test tubes and for the cultivation of four Pleurotus commercial isolates in polypropylene bags. The identification of the isolates was based on the morphology of the basidiomata obtained and on sequencing of the LSU rDNA gene. Three isolates were identified as P. ostreatus, and one was identified as P. djamor. All isolates had better in-depth mycelium development in the charcoal-supplemented substrate. In the cultivation experiment, the isolates reacted differently to the two substrates. One isolate showed particularly high growth on the substrate containing charcoal.