NAMIBIAN EDIBLE MUSHROOMS: PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF OYSTER (Pleurotus ostreatus) AND BUTTON (Agaricus bisporus) MUSHROOMS
*S. K. Ogundana & J. Haimbodi
Department of Biology, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia.
*Corresponding Author. E-mail: skogundana@yahoo.com
Accepted on November 07, 2006
Abstract
Samples of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) and the button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) were analyzed for their nutrient substances. P. ostreatus contained 9.95% dry matter which contained as much as 27.06% crude protein, 19.21% crude fibre, 0.43% phosphorus, 0.8% ether extract and 7.76% ash. Agaricus bisporus contained 7.85% dry matter, of which the crude protein was as high as 37.46%. Its crude fibre is similarly as high as 14.38%. It also had 0.64% phosphorus, 1.7% ether extract and 11.19% ash. Although, the residual matter of the button mushroom was lower than that of oyster mushroom, its crude protein surpassed that of oyster mushroom by at least 10%; while all other nutrient components, except the crude fibre were higher. Samples from the two types of mushrooms contained high amounts of total and reducing sugars.