COMPARATIVE EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTS ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF TWO SPECIES OF PLEUROTUS MUSHROOMS CULTIVATED ON WOOD DUSTS

Abstract

Pleurotus pulmonarius and Pleurotus sajor caju were cultivated on Pycanthus angolensis and Spondium mombim sawdust supplemented with 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% Palm kernel Cake (PKC), Oil palm fibre (OPF), Rice Bran (RB), Wheat chaff (WC), and Corn cobs (CC). P.sajor-caju had the highest yield of fruit bodies with the value of 40.67g +0.11 when cultivated on a combination of P. angolensis and S. mombim sawdust supplemented with 20% Corn cobs. P. pulmonarius cultivated on sawdust of S. mombim supplemented with 5% PKC had the highest number of fruiting bodies of 24.67+3.22 in 29 days. The Biological efficiency of substrates used ranged from 6.09% +0.12 to 45.75% +0.17. The proximate and mineral composition of the (dry) harvested mushrooms revealed that fat content ranged from 0.21% to 4.32%, while protein content ranged from 16.22% to 26.85%. Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg) and Iron (Fe) had values ranging from 0.04 to 23.09mg/100g, 0.28 to 32.28mg/100g and 0.08 to 14.09 mg/100g respectively. Bacteria isolated from the substrates used in this study includes: Bacillus sp, Streptococcus sp, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Micrococcus luteus, Proteus sp, Bacillus cereus, Micrococcus sp, Serratia marcescens, Cellulomonas sp, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis. Fungi isolated include; Penicillium digitatum, Mucor sp, Trichoderma sp, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporium, Rhizopus stolonifer, Cladosporium herbarum, Aspergillus fumigatus, Penicillium chrysogenum, Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium italicum. The toxicological analysis through Histopathological assay revealed that there was no observable damage on the major organs of the experimental animals fed with the mushroom composed diet. This study shows that supplementing sawdust of P. angolensis and S. mombim greatly influenced the yield and nutrient composition of P. pulmonarius and P. sajor caju