Utilization of Soybean Strawsfor Cultivating Lentinula edodes

Differently formulated substrates consisting of soybean straws to replace sawdust or wheat bran were used to cultivate Lentinula edodes for evaluation. The resulting yield, economics, amino acid content, and production cost of the mushroom fruit bodies were analyzed. It was found that the medium containing 15% of the soybean straws could be applicable for the cultivation. In fact, as high as 35% of soybean straws in a medium could substitute wheat branto achieve a same fresh mushroom production and amino acid content in the fruiting bodies. By doing so, a saving of 4 250 yuan in producing 10 000 bags of L. edodes could be realized. The information suggested means to effectively utilize soybean straws for the mushroom cultivation.