Influence of varying preservation methods on the shelf life and proximate composition of Pleurotus plumonarius (Fr) Quel cultivated on Andropogon gayanus substrate

Abstract

The objective of the work was to evaluate the influence of preservation methods on the storability and proximate composition of Pleurotus pulmonarius. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design(CRD) with three replicates. Freshly harvested mushrooms grown on Andropogon gayanus substrate and analyzedfor its proximate composition were divided into four portions: sun dried (SD), oven dried (OV), blanched andunblanched stored directly in citric acid solution at varying concentrations (conc.) (0.0%, 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.5%).The microbial load count of the preserved samples and sensory evaluation carried out were significant (P