జర్నల్ ఆఫ్ ప్లాంట్ పాథాలజీ & మైక్రోబయాలజీ

నైరూప్య

Fungal Incidence and Growth of Two Pleurotus Species on Sawdust of Ceiba pentandra (Linn.) Gaertn and Ficus Mucuso welw (Softwoods)

Sobowale AA, Atoyebi FT and Adenipekun CO

Objective: Nigeria is faced with one of the most pressing environmental challenge which is the large production of sawdust waste of which Ceiba pentandra and Ficus mucuso are among the major contributors. This work seeks to harness waste through mushroom cultivation thereby reducing environmental hazards usually caused by improper disposal and burning. Softwood sawdust of Ceiba pentandra and Ficus mucuso was evaluated for their effects on the production of Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus pulmonarius. Similarly, probable relationship among the fungal incidence of the substrates (sawdust) and that of mushrooms were examined.

Methods: The treatments used were replicated three times in a completely randomized design. The fruiting bodies were harvested and growth parameters, total yield and biological efficiency (BE) of the mushroom were recorded while their nutritional analysis was carried out. Resident fungi in the sawdust and mushrooms were isolated and identified after obtaining pure cultures. The data obtained were subjected to analysis.

Results: Ceiba pentandra and Ficus mucuso sawdust (substrates) supported the growth of the two mushrooms. P. ostreatus grew significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher than that of P. pulmonarius. However, the substrates had significant (p ≤ 0.05) impact on the different growth parameters of the mushrooms. Generally, fermented sawdust significantly (p ≤ 0.05) improved some growth parameters of the mushrooms compared to unfermented one. Zero percent (0%) additive had significant (p ≤ 0.05) impact on growth parameters of the mushrooms than other concentrations. The mushrooms was nutritionally good. Similar fungi were isolated from the substrates (sawdust) and the mushrooms.

Conclusion: Softwood sawdust is thus a conducive substrate for mushroom cultivation and could be part of the solution to environmental challenge due to sawdust in Nigeria.