Viability of Cassava peels spawn production and mushroom cultivation
Abstract This work was carried out to ascertain the viability of spawn produced on cassava peels and used for spawning cassava peels and sawdust substrates and compare the yield with mushroom fruits from the conventional Sorghum bicolor known to be the best material for spawn production. Three different species of mushroom cultures were inoculated on cassava peels, two Pleurotus pulmonarius strains (FIIRO and Thailand) and Lentinus squarroslus. The study of mycelia colonization rate study was done in triplicate. L. squarroslus completed colonization within 18days of inoculation in test tube with a growth mean value of 11.16cm, the two strains of P. pulmonarius (FIIRO and Thailand) completed colonization in 21 days with FIIRO strain having growth mean value of 11.46cm and Thailand strain 11.20cm. Cassava peels spawn production was done in two ways, singly and supplemented with rice bran, yield from different species of mushroom (L. squarroslus and P. pulmonarius (FIIRO Strain) cultivated with cassava peels spawn in the study were compared with sorghum grains spawn. Different weight of 100, 200, 300g were used for cultivation, sorghum grains spawn produced the highest yield (202.13g) from the two species used followed by cassava peels supplemented with rice bran (179.86g) and single cassava peels spawn (124.13g). L. squarroslus did not fruit on cassava peels even with the sorghum grains spawn. The differences from the yield of the three spawn was negligible as the differences was not noticeable (cassava peels 124.133±5.21a, supplemented cassava peels spawn 179.867±0.64a, and sorghum grains spawn 202.133±8.86a). This result verified the use of cassava peels in the production of viable mushroom spawn.
Conversion of agricultural and industrial wastes into fungal protein
Abstract Mushrooms and a few other micro-organisms can excrete several extracellular enzymes into the compost and directly attack/degrade cellulose, hemicellulose and even lignin which are the main components of the wastes and are the most resistant materials in nature to biological degradation. After mushrooms have been harvested the spent composts can be used as a soil conditioner; or alternatively, the less spent composts from which only the initial mushrooms are harvested can be converted into stockfeed.
An analysis of patients discharged from a hospital‐based glaucoma case‐finding clinic over a 3‐year period
Purpose:  To analyse the false positive referrals by community optometrists to a glaucoma case‐finding clinic over a 3‐year period.