Effect of substrate on the growth, nutritional and bioactive components of <i>Pleurotus ostreatus</i> and <i>Pleurotus florida</i>

Abstract

Mushrooms are increasingly being recognized as important food products for their significant role in human health, nutrition and disease. This study was carried out with the aim of comparing the effect of substrate on growth, determining nutritional and bioactive components of two oyster mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus florida. A completely randomized block design with two treatments replicated three times was done and a laboratory analysis was carried out on the nutritional and bioactive components. The results obtained indicated that the growth and yield of P. ostreatus and P. florida varied widely depending on the kind of substrate used. It was observed that sawdust had the greatest influence on both growth and total yield because it had mean height, weight and pileus length significantly higher than those cultivated on corn cobs. It took least days for pin head formation and maturity period but had the highest number of fruiting bodies produced. P. ostreatus had the highest weight, height and biological yield while P. florida had the least pin head formation, maturity period and number of fruiting bodies. The biological efficiency and moisture content was the highest for sawdust substrate as a whole. The substrate had an effect on the nutritional value as maximum protein (29.45%) was observed on sawdust while minimum (25.12%) on corn cobs. Maximum lipid (4.62%) was observed on corn cobs while minimum (1.97%) was still on corn cobs. Regarding substrate, maximum ash (8.67%) was observed on sawdust while minimum (8.215%) on corn cobs; also maximum crude fibre (16.69%) was observed on corn cobs while minimum (5.08%) was on sawdust. The bioactive components analysis revealed the presence of major bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, polyphenols, saponins, triterpenoids and steroids. Oyster mushroom cultivated on sawdust possesses better growth and nutritional properties than those cultivated on corn cobs.

Keywords: Bioactive components, cultivation, nutritional analysis, oyster mushroom