Abstract

Lentinus squarrosulus (Mont.) Singer was cultivated on the sawdust of five economic tropical tree species, Chlorophora excelsa, Celtis zenkeri, Gueracedrata, Nesogordenia  papaverifera and Brachystegia nigerica, collected during processing at the sawmill. The highest yield of dry fruiting bodies (16.17 ± 1.25 g) was observed on B. nigerica sawdust supplemented with 1% CaCO₃, 1% sugar and 20% wheat bran. The lowest yield (4.56 ± 1.84 g), was observed on N. papaverifera sawdust without supple-mentation. The results of this study demonstrate that L. squarrosulus mushroom did not show any particular trend with increase in supplementation level. The study underscores the need for guided use of sawdust types along with the required appropriate supplements.

Key words: Agro-industrial waste, bioconversion, cultivation, edible mushroom, sawmill waste.