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.
Evaluation of yield of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus pulmonarius) grown on cotton waste and cassava peel.
This work evaluated the yield of Pleurotus pulmonarius on different mixtures of cotton waste and cassava peel. P. pulmonarius demonstrated significantly higher colonization rate on cotton waste substrate (100 g cotton waste) 3 weeks after inoculation of spawn than any other substrate mixtures. Cotton waste had the shortest time for full mycelial ramification (3 weeks) and mushroom primodial appearance (31/2 weeks). At 7th week of cultivation, substrate mixtures; 20 g cotton waste + 80 g cassava peel and the cassava peel substrate (100 g) had not ramified, therefore, no appearance of mushroom pinhead. The highest yield was observed on 100 g cotton waste with mushroom yield of 79.4 g followed by 80 g cotton waste + 20 g cassava peel with 72.0 g. Cassava peel (100 g) produced no mushroom fruit. The least mushroom yield of 3.0 g was obtained from the substrate mixture 20 g cotton waste + 80 g cassava peel. The highest number of flushes obtained was 4 recorded for substrate mixtures 70 g cotton waste + 30 g cassava peel, 50 g cotton waste + 50 g cassava peel, 40 g cotton waste + 60 g cassava peel and 100 g cotton waste. The results showed that cotton waste was a better substrate for cultivation of P. pulmonarius than cassava peel. However, with the high availability of cassava peel in Nigeria, the potential use of this waste as substrate adjunct (at 20% of substrate) can be suggested based on the findings of this study. It can be deduced from this study that cassava peel may be used for mushroom cultivation if supplemented with a good nitrogen source.
Chemical composition of Pleurotus pulmonarius (Fr.) Quél., substrates and residue after cultivation
The cultivation of Pleurotus pulmonarius was carried out on different substrate: cotton waste (A) leaves of Cymbopogon citratus (B) and leaves of Panicum maximum Jacq. (C). The mushroom had a varied chemical composition; nevertheless they contained a good composition for to be used as a good source of protein for human kind. The results showed the higher protein content (29.19%) and fibre (9.0%) for the mushroom that were cultivated on cotton peel. The substrate composition and the residue composition after the mushroom harvest were: Protein for the substrate "A" (10.63% and 9.35%), "B" (7.87% and 4.24%) and "C" (7.55% and 5.90 %); Lipids "A" (4.17% and 2.03%), "B"(2.77% and 3.20%) and "C" (0.91% and 2.05%); Fibres "A" (49.02% and 37.02%), "B" (28.40% and 23.26%) and "C" (37.50% and 26.66%) respectively. The substrate "A" showed 0.048% of iron and "C" 0.14% of magnesium, 0.31% of potassium and 0.26% of calcium. In the substrate "B" the quantity of the minerals were very low in comparison to the other substrates. The residues after the harvest of mushroom could be used as fertiliser or as complement in the composition for animal feed.