The cultivation of white rot edible fungus Pleurotus florida was performed in polybags. The corn cob was employed as basal substrate while eight different additives such as urea, ammonium sulphate, gram flour, soybean meal, ground nut cake and molasses were used with corn cob. Three different levels of variable combinations with corn cob were evaluated in response to different parameters of mushroom viz., mycelial growth, spawn running, primordial initiation, fruit body yield and its biological efficiency. Each additive at different combinations showed variable impact on the different stages of mushroom life cycle. The primordial initiation was observed for the first time during 20.2-35.1 days. The biological efficiencies in every supplemented set were increased over un-supplemented control set. Increasing the level of additives, the biological efficiency was negatively affected at higher levels. The cotton seed cake was found the best supplement producing 93.75% biological efficiency while soybean meal was the second best additive producing 93.00% yield. The highest growth rate, rapid mycelia run, early primordial initiation, highest yield and biological efficiency were recorded in the combination of corn cob and cotton seed cake at 2% (98 + 2) level.

Extensive research is being conducted worldwide to find alternative and efficient systems to lessen the impacts of climate change and reduce environmental pollution. The genus Phragmites has proven ability to mitigate the environmental pollution of its surroundings. Common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. Ex. Steudel), a graminaceous plant of cosmopolitan nature, has been extensively studied especially for the mitigation of environmental contamination. The capability of common reed to grow well at extreme environmental conditions such as elevated CO 2 and high temperature is conferred by several factors such as change of carbon trapping mechanism (from C 3 to C 4 and vice versa), microbial association and biochemical adaptations. P. australis has been a most preferred unique plant system, especially in ecological engineering for improving the quality of wastewater. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge regarding the suitability of Phragmites australis for environmental remediation and summarizes recent advancements in our understanding of this grass.

Irrational and rapid global human societal development has culminated to a condition of environmental deterioration. Accidental leakage and deliberate use of organic and inorganic chemicals have contaminated the environment up to the level of ecosystem. Advancements have been made in the field of research on bioremediation of the hazardous contaminants especially in last three decades. Microbial bioremediation has been the most understood biotechnological process of environmental restoration. Bacteria and fungi because of their inherent ability to adapt and grow in extreme environments have been employed for either removal or degradation of the chemical contaminants. Researchers all over the world are getting breakthroughs in finding new bacterial strains having plasmid linked degradation/ reduction ability. Molecular biology and genetic engineering helped in crafting the microbes for the desired results on environment. Despite having favorable conditions, microbial remediation largely depends on environmental factors and on the basic biological characters of microbes, especially bacteria being Grampositive or Gram-negative. Metagenomic studies revealed the importance of microbial ecology as microbes work well in community, i.e., consortia. This review along with several other studies suggests the need of precision during microbial community identification, substrate specificity and the designing of microbes.

Two commercial oyster mushroom species, Pleurotus florida PF05 (PF) and Pleurotus sajor-caju PS08 (PS), were cultivated on wheat straw (WS), corn cob (CC) and combination of both (CC+WS) as basal substrates. These substrates were deliberately supplemented with 5, 10, 20 and 40% of dairy spent wash (DSW) as additive. The influence of DSW on cultivation phases of both mushrooms' lifecycle and other parameters such as mycelial growth rate, ergosterol production, mycelial run, pin head formation, yield, biological efficiency (BE) and protein content in fruitbodies was evaluated. Different DSW concentrations significantly (P< 0.05) exhibited continuous variations over different parameters. In contrast to the response of spent wash on PS, PF was superior in every phase and parameter. The lower concentrations up to a certain level unexpectedly influenced the cultivation phases of both mushrooms. The fastest growth rate (6.6 mm day −1 ) and highest ergosterol (437.00 μg g −1 ) were registered at 20% DSW with the combination of CC+WS as basal substrate. The earliest mycelial run and pin head formation by PF were recorded within 17 and 21 days at 10% supplementation of WS substrate. The maximum 2,173.62 g fruit body yield and 108.68% BE were obtained from PF at 10% DSW supplementation to CC+WS substrates. In addition, the highest content of protein (32.9 mg g −1 ) was achieved in the set of CC+WS with 20% DSW added. The results for each parameter of cultivation in supplemented sets were more enhanced compared to unsupplemented sets. The progression of yield response and biological efficiency was noted as flush-I>flush-II>flush-III with considerable differences. These results suggest the use of DSW at low levels for increasing fruit body yield and BE of Pleurotus mushrooms.