Paper Details

PJB-2026-1506

Optimization of different spawn types of Pleurotus pulmonarius and blending of its flour with local flours by using MATLAB linear programming

Muhammad Bin Ali, Tehreema Iftikhar and Hammad Majeed
Abstract

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Present work addressed SDG 2, SDG 3, SDG 12, and SDG 13 for improved spawn production on lab and commercial stage to increase overall production of Pleurotus pulmonarius. This study is aimed to produce three types of spawn i.e. mother spawn, planting spawn and commercial spawn. Mother spawn is the one that is cultured by the inoculation of pure culture media, while rest of both are produced from the inoculation of mother spawn. The planting spawn is produced in lab scale in relative lower quantity contrary to commercial spawn which is produced in polypropylene bags. Improved spawn technology is the key to produce mushroom on large scale globally. Optimization of mother spawn led to the cultivation of zinc fortified Pleurotus pulmonarius mushroom fruiting bodies. These fruiting bodies were dried and blended with wheat flours and maize flour by using MATLAB linear programming model. These blends were tested for minerals like sodium, potassium using flame photometer and zinc content was analyzed with atomic absorption spectroscopy. Freshness and quality of flour blends were analyzed by using colorimeter which gave value of a*, b*, c*, h* and L*. Minimum spawn run was noted at 100 g substrate concentration of wheat substrate (16 days), 5g dosage of planting spawn gave lowest spawn run of 12 days while optimization of commercial spawn 10 g/500 g dosage gave 14.1 days to completely cover the spawn bag with mycelium. Conventional flour blend of Government College University Lahore grown wheat gave maximum sodium concentration (2.09 ± 0.082 mg/2 g of flour blend) as compared to other blends. Maximum potassium concentration (6.74 ± 0.249 mg/2 g of flour blend) was noted in flour blended of NARC-11 wheat and zinc fortified Pleurotus pulmonaius. While, zinc quantity was highest (0.162 ± 0.008 mg/2 g) in university gorwn wheat flour blended with zinc fortified Pleurotus pulmonarius flour

To Cite this article: Ali, M., T. Iftikhar and H. Majeed. 2026. Optimization of different spawn types of Pleurotus pulmonarius and blending of its flour with local flours by using MATLAB linear programming. Pak. J. Bot., 58(1): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2026-1(31)  
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