Assessment of the productive and biodegradative non-enzymatic performance of Pleurotus mushrooms grown on agricultural wastes of sugarcane bagasse and banana leaves.

Selecting a substrate for cultivating mushroom species can provide strategies for utilizing agronomic wastes within a circular economy. In Northeast Brazil, sugarcane and bananas are the most produced crops, generating large amounts of agricultural waste. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the influence of different sugarcane bagasse (SB) and banana leaf (BL) formulations on the productive and holistic non-enzymatic biodegradative performance of Pleurotus djamor and P. ostreatus. The experiment was randomized with treatments consisting of five formulations: 0% (control), 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% SB, complemented with BL. The substrates were moistened, bagged, sterilized, and inoculated. They were then subjected to the incubation, fruiting induction, and harvest stages, resulting in three productive cycles. Mycelial growth (mm day⁻), biological efficiency (%), production rate (% day⁻), earliness (days), and the biodegrading ratio of the chemical components of the cultivation substrate were assessed. The results were subjected to ANOVA and Tukey's tests at a 5% significance level (P < 0.05). The 25-SB treatment provided optimal conditions for productive developing P. djamor and showed the highest biodegradative performance. It resulted in high and significant mycelial growth, earliness, and production rate while promoting over 50% lignin biodegrading ratio. P. ostreatus demonstrated high productive performance with over 80% biological efficiency, although no significant differences were observed between treatments. We conclude that agricultural wastes from SB and BL provide essential conditions for cultivating P. djamor and P. ostreatus, with high biodegradative and productive performance, respectively.