Abstract:
Investigation was conducted on Pleurotus ostreatus, an edible mushroom, cultivated on sawdusts of five selected tropical medicinal trees namely, Magnifera indica (mango tree), Anacardium occidentale (cashew tree), Azadirchata indica (neem tree ), Alstonia boonei De Wild (Alstonia) and Spondias mombin (Hug plum). Proximate, minerals and phytochemical properties of the sawdusts used and the fruiting bodies of the P.ostreatus were determined before feeding trial on experimental animals using standard methods. Then animals were fed with the harvested fruiting bodies of the P. ostreatus cultivated on the trees. Histopathological and haematological assessment of some vital organs and blood of these animals were monitored to determine the level of total protein, albumin, globulin and albumin/globulin ratio using standard methods. The result for the proximate composition of the wood samples showed that all the wood samples were rich in Fibre but low in Ash content. Hog plum tree has the highest protein content with a value of 5.20±0.00% while Alstonia had the lowest protein content with a value of 2.56±0.86%. Mushroom cultivated on hog plum showed the highest protein content with a value of 31.01±0.01% while mushroom cultivated on mango has the lowest protein content with a value of 20.72±0.01%. It was observed that both the control feed and P.ostreatus prepared feed increased the red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC) of the experimental animals. This signifies that P.ostreatus is a rich proteinous source and can be used as a substitute to prepare the experimental animal feed. The histopathological result showed that the cultivated mushrooms all maintained the integrity of organs of the experimental animals with no deleterious effect on the animals
