Edible mushrooms are valued for their nutritional and nutraceutical attributes and can be produced using a wide range of lignocellulosic agricultural residues (Sharma et al., 2019). Recent data indicate continued expansion of mushroom production in India, with total production reaching 351.08 thousand tonnes during 2023-24 (Lal and Sushmita, 2026). This growth increases the importance of identifying locally available, economical and biologically suitable substrates for oyster mushroom production.
       
Paddy straw is a commonly used substrate for Pleurotus cultivation because of its favourable physical and chemical characteristics. However, dependence on a single substrate can constrain mushroom production where paddy straw is seasonally scarce or relatively costly. Pleurotus spp. have consequently been evaluated on diverse cellulose-rich materials, including cereal straws, sawdust, banana residues and other crop by-products (Mandeel et al., 2005; Fanadzo et al., 2010; Gorai and Sharma, 2018; Karpagavalli et al., 2023; Sahu et al., 2025).
       
The suitability of a substrate depends on its chemical composition, particularly the availability of carbon and nitrogen and the relative proportions of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. These characteristics influence mycelial colonization, enzyme activity and fruiting-body formation. A recent evaluation of ten lignocellulosic substrates for oyster mushroom cultivation reported C:N ratios ranging from 28.05 in groundnut haulm to 133.18 in sawdust and observed better productivity within a C:N range of approximately 40-60, together with favourable cellulose:lignin relationships (Panda et al., 2022; Sahu et al., 2025).
       
Groundnut haulm is an important livestock-feed resource; banana pseudostem is commonly left after harvest and can also be used as a soil amendment or fibre resource, while sugarcane trash may be retained in the field, collected for other uses, or incorporated into residue-management systems. Consequently, the suitability of these materials for mushroom cultivation should be considered in relation to their existing uses and local availability rather than on the assumption that they are universally wasted or burned.
       
Previous studies have demonstrated that mixtures of lignocellulosic materials can improve substrate performance compared with some residues used alone (Jadhav et al., 1998; Mane et al., 2007; Reddy and Yang, 2015). The present study was therefore undertaken to evaluate paddy straw, sugarcane trash, banana pseudostem and groundnut haulm, both individually and in 1:1 mixtures with paddy straw, for cultivation of P. florida during Kharif and Rabi seasons. The objective was to identify a practical alternative substrate, with particular emphasis on sugarcane trash.

The study was conducted at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Tirupati during Rabi, 2020-21.
 
Culture of P. florida
 
The culture of Pleurotus florida was obtained from the culture collection of Department of Plant Pathology, Regional Agricultural Research Station, Tirupati. Pure cultures were maintained on potato dextrose agar (PDA) slants at 4°C until use.
 
Spawn preparation
 
Sorghum grains were boiled in a water bath for 15 min and mixed with calcium carbonate (4% w/w) and calcium sulphate (2% w/w). The prepared grains (250 g) were filled into 40-µm-thick polythene bags of 1000-g capacity. The bags were autoclaved at 15 psi for 30 min and cooled to room temperature. Sterilized grains were inoculated with actively growing mycelium of P. florida from PDA slants and incubated at 27±2°C for 20 d. Fully colonized grains were used as mother spawn. Bed spawn was subsequently prepared using mother spawn to inoculate sterilized sorghum grains under the same conditions.
 
Substrate treatments and cultivation
 
Banana pseudostem, sugarcane trash, groundnut haulm and paddy straw were collected from the field and sun-dried for four days. The dried materials were chopped into 2-3 cm pieces. Seven treatments were evaluated: T1, sugarcane trash; T2, sugarcane trash + paddy straw (1:1); T3, banana pseudostem; T4, banana pseudostem + paddy straw (1:1); T5, groundnut haulm; T6, groundnut haulm + paddy straw (1:1); and T7, paddy straw with seven replications per each treatment. Mixtures were prepared on a dry-weight basis. All substrates were soaked overnight, drained and sterilized at 121°C, then cooled to room temperature. Spawn was added at 20 g kg^-1 substrate.
       
Spawned beds were provided with small holes and maintained initially in a dark room at 27±2°C and 80 ± 5% relative humidity for 15 d. Fully colonized beds were transferred to the cropping room maintained at 24±2°C and >90% relative humidity. Watering was provided twice daily and stopped one day before harvest. Three flushes were harvested when the margins of the caps began to flatten. The weight of mushrooms from each flush was recorded and the cumulative yield was used to calculate biological efficiency (BE) as:
 

  

       
Costs of cultivation and returns from the harvested mushrooms were used to calculate net returns per rupee invested (NRRI).
 
Statistical analysis
 
The data were analysed using a completely randomized design (CRD). Treatment effects were tested by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). When the F-test was significant, treatment means were compared using Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test at the 5% probability level (P≤0.05). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Statistics version 20.0 (IBM, 2012).

Biological efficiency and economic returns
 
Significant differences were observed among substrate treatments for BE and NRRI in both Kharif and Rabi seasons (Table 1, Fig 1). In Kharif, paddy straw recorded the highest BE (68.4%) and NRRI (1.9), followed by sugarcane trash + paddy straw (58.7% and 1.2), sugarcane trash alone (50.5% and 1.1) and banana pseudostem + paddy straw (46.0% and 0.6). The lowest BE and NRRI were recorded with groundnut haulm alone (11.4% and 0.1), followed by groundnut haulm + paddy straw (17.5% and 0.2).




       
A similar trend was observed in Rabi. Paddy straw recorded the highest BE (87.53%) and NRRI (2.53), followed by sugarcane trash + paddy straw (78.24% and 1.77) and sugarcane trash alone (70.44% and 1.98). Banana pseudostem + paddy straw recorded 63.09% BE and 0.99 NRRI, whereas groundnut haulm alone and its combination with paddy straw recorded the lowest BE (26.76% and 31.99%) and NRRI (0.39 and 0.52), respectively. The treatment means and significance groupings are presented in Table 1.
       
The superior performance of paddy straw is consistent with its established use as a substrate for Pleurotus cultivation. Sugarcane trash was the best-performing alternative residue in the present experiment, both when used alone and when combined with paddy straw. The improved performance of the sugarcane-trash mixture may be associated with the complementary physical and chemical characteristics of the two materials. Previous studies have also demonstrated the suitability of sugarcane-derived residues for Pleurotus cultivation (Aguilar-Rivera and de Jesus-Merales, 2010; Gorai and Sharma, 2018).
       
The lower performance of groundnut haulm should be interpreted in relation to its relatively high nitrogen concentration and narrower C:N ratio. Sahu et al., (2025) reported a C:N ratio of 28.05 for groundnut haulm compared with 53.45 for paddy straw. Pleurotus cultivation is influenced by substrate C:N balance and by the relative abundance of structural carbohydrates. The higher performance of groundnut haulm when mixed with paddy straw in the present study suggests that blending can partially improve substrate suitability, although the mixture remained inferior to paddy straw and sugarcane-trash treatments.
       
Banana pseudostem also supported fruiting of P. florida, but its BE and NRRI were lower than those of sugarcane trash in the present study. This confirms that banana pseudostem can serve as a supplementary substrate, although its performance may vary with cultivar, moisture content, maturity and chemical composition. Variability in published cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin values further emphasizes the need to characterize locally available residues when developing substrate recommendations.
 
Practical implication
 
The present results support sugarcane trash as a promising alternative to paddy straw for P. florida cultivation under the conditions tested at Tirupati. The 1:1 sugarcane-trash + paddy-straw mixture performed better than sugarcane trash alone in BE, while sugarcane trash alone showed a numerically higher NRRI in Rabi. Thus, sugarcane trash may be incorporated into substrate formulations where paddy straw availability is constrained.

Paddy straw remained the most productive substrate for P. florida under the conditions of the present study. Among the alternative residues, sugarcane trash showed the highest performance, both alone and in combination with paddy straw and therefore represents a promising supplementary or alternative substrate where paddy straw availability is limited. Banana pseudostem also supported mushroom production, whereas groundnut haulm showed comparatively low performance. Because groundnut haulm has an established use as livestock feed, its use for mushroom cultivation should be considered only where the value of the feed resource is not compromised. Further work should evaluate locally measured C:N ratio and cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin contents of the substrates, together with additional substrate ratios and supplementation strategies, before making broader recommendations.

The authors declare that they have no financial or non-financial conflicts of interest to disclose.