Background:

To increase profitability, it can be obtained by increasing yields, productivity or both, and in this way to obtain more fungi with the same effort.

Objective:

To seek for the optimal inoculation rate to increase the productivity of the culture of a highly productive commercial strain of Pleurotus ostreatus.

Methods:

Wheat straw was used as a substrate; bags of 1 kg wet weight were inoculated with different percentages of inoculum (produced on sorghum) varying from 1 to 16.6 %.

Results and conclusions:

Fruit bodies were obtained in all treatments; the incubation time was reduced by one week inoculating at 13 and 16.6 %. We observed an enhance in yields as the percentage of inoculum increased. The highest biological efficiency percentages were reached in the samples inoculated with 13 and 16.6 %, obtaining values of 116.08 and 116.04 % respectively, without showing significant differences between them even though there were differences among treatments. The number of growing cycles per year was increased to 5.5 inoculating to 13-16.6 %. When we evaluated the total kilograms produced in one year and compared them with the cost of the inoculum, the economic balance showed that by using a percentage of 13 %, the producer doubled his profits.