Assessment of the Effect of Substrates from Different Wood Species on the Cultivation of Edible Mushroom

Mushroom is very important to rural dwellers due to the various economic, health and nutritional benefits that can be derived from its consumption, sales and utilization. Hence, this experiment was carried out with a view to evaluating the influence of locally available substrate i.e., sawdust of different wood species on the cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom). Pleurotus ostreatus was grown on sawdust (indigenous and exotic species) using two pretreatment methods, which included hot water treatment to remove (a water-soluble extract) and non-extracted sawdusts (substrate). The result of this study showed that there was a significant difference in the effect of different wood species selected. Parkia biglobosa produced a better yield (71.06 g), followed by Anogeissus leiocarpus (53.17 g) and Gmelina arborea (51.39 g) in a non-treated unextracted states. In the treated samples, Parkia biglobosa has the highest yield (50.61 g) followed by Anogeissus leiocarpus (49.28 g) and Gmelina arborea (45.00 g). Thus, Parkia biglobosa and Anogeissus leiocarpus produced a higher yield of mushroom either in a treated or non-treated state and they could be recommended for growing oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus).