Perilla is an edible medical plant with rapidly increasing acreage in China. In this study, we investigated the potential of perilla stalks (PSs) as an alternative substrate for the cultivation of oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus). P. ostreatus was cultivated on cottonseed hulls (CSH) alone or mixed with PSs in different ratios. The production parameters, physical characteristics, nutritional values, and antioxidant activity of mushrooms cultivated on different substrate mixtures were determined. The addition of PSs to CSH significantly improved the growth rate, yield, biological efficiency, and proximate composition and shortened the cultivation cycle. Cultivation on PSs alone increased the amino acid content in P. ostreatus fruiting bodies and the antioxidant activity of mushroom extracts. The PS75 (25% CSH + 75% PS) substrate was deduced to be the most effective substrate on the basis of yield and biological efficiency obtained in a large area where perilla had been planted. The results demonstrate that mixtures of PS with CSHs could be used as novel, practical, and easily accessible alternative substrates for P. ostreatus cultivation.
Keywords: Antioxidant activity; Nutritional value; Perilla stalk; Physical characteristics; Pleurotus ostreatus.