Cultivation of Pleurotus pulmonarius (Fr.) Quel. and Ganoderma sessile Murrill. on Rice Straw Supplemented with Cassava Peels and Wheat Bran

Mushrooms are members of the Basidiomycota and Ascomycota. Many species of mushrooms live in nature and can be cultivated on special substrates, such as agricultural wastes. Inorganic substrates for the cultivation of mushrooms may cause deleterious effects on the health of man. This necessitates the use of a cheap, environmentally friendly approach to mushroom cultivation. Previous studies on mushroom cultivation focused on the use of rice straw and wheat bran as additives, but with limited information on the use of cassava peels as additives. Therefore, this study investigated the cultivation of Pleurotus pulmonarius and Ganoderma sessile on agricultural wastes. The two mushrooms were cultivated on rice straw with cassava peels (CP) and wheat bran (WB) as additives at varying percentages (0%, 5%, 10% and 20%). The results showed that substrates and additive types with their percentage concentrations significantly (p≤0.05) influenced the mushroom proximate compositions and yield. Rice straw with cassava peel additives, irrespective of their percentage concentration, had better mushroom quality, size, and biological efficiency than wheat bran additives. Frutification was highest at 20% cassava peel additive for Pleurotus pulmonarius with a pileus length, stipe length, and stipe width of 10.7cm,12.20cm, and 13.15 cm, respectively, and G. sessile with pileus length, stipe length, and stipe width of 7.67cm, 4.52cm, and 8.00cm, respectively. Proximate analysis revealed that moisture (90.72%) and fibre (25.64%) contents were higher in 10% P. pulmonarius with cassava peel additive, with the least crude protein (4.01%) content, which are significantly different from values of other samples. Moisture content is not significantly (p>0.05) different in samples. 0% G. sessile CP, 10% G. sessile WB, and 10% P. pulmonarius have the highest protein content (33.59, 30.94, and 23.27 %, respectively) followed by 0. % G. sessile CP, 5% G. sessile CP and 10% G. sessile CP with the lowest (4.01%) observed in other groups of G. sessile. Fat content was generally low in all G. sessile and P. pulmonarius except in 10% (26.19) and 20% (24.18) P. pulmonarius WB. Fibre content is high in 10% P. pulmonarius CP at 25.63%. Carbohydrate content was generally high in all samples except 5% and 10% P. pulmonarius WB.