Mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal mushroom cultivation- constraints and opportunities for Sub-Saharan Africa

Figures & data

Figure 1. A map of Africa showing the relative expanse of the Sub-Saharan region shown in red. Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-physical-geography-map-of-Africa-from-the-Perry-Castaneda-map-collection_Figure2_32898263 (Accessed 11 October 2022).

Figure 2. Spawn making and multiplication flowchart for cultivated mushrooms.

Table 1. List of abbreviations used

Abbreviation	Meaning
UN	United Nations
PDA	Potato dextrose agar
MEA	Malt extract agar
C	Carbon
N	Nitrogen
P	Phosphorus
Ca	Calcium
Fe	Iron
MHB	Mycorrhiza helper bacteria
SSA	Sub-Saharan Africa

Table 2. Substrates in use and substrate preparation methods for different saprotrophic mushroom species categories

Mushroom trophic groups and species examples	Farm available spawn-running substrates	Substrate preparation methods	References
Thoroughly composted material decomposers: eg. Agaricus sp; Volvariella sp.; Clitocybe nuda, Hypsizygus tessulatus, Sparassis crispa*, Tremella fuciformis, Ustilago maydis, Phallus indusiatus, Coprinus, Agrocybe,	(a) Dry stover: Straws of wheat, rice, oat, grass, maize, palm leaf, banana leaf, maize cobs, soya, groundnut, cotton, bean straw, peanut hulls, coffee pulp or grounds, nut and seed hulls, cottonseed hulls, cocoa bean hulls, cottonseed meal, soybean meal	Composting/fermentation and sterilisation with additives brewer’s grain, ammonium nitrate, urea	Chang & Miles, 2004; Dey et al., 2008; Thongklang & Luangharn, 2016
	(b) Livestock derived: poultry, horse, kraal, horse manure, straw-bedding	Composting and sterilisation with additives brewer’s grain, ammonium nitrate, urea	Weil et al., 2013
Wood/sawdust decomposers: e.g., Lentinula sp; Flammulina sp.; Pholiota sp.; Hericium sp.; Ganoderma sp.; Trametes sp. Grifola sp, Auricularia sp.; Pleurotus	Logs of pine, pecan, oak, willow, birch, shii tree (Castanopsis sp.) sawdust	Pasteurisation and “shocking”	Harith et al., 2014*; Besufekad et al., 2020; El-Nour & Ibraheim, 2021; Kortei et al., 2018
Uncomposted/partially composted materials: Pleurotus sp.; Volvariella volvacea Lentinula edodes	Dry straws of wheat, rice, oat, barley, wild grass, maize, palm leaf, banana leaf, corn cobs, soya, groundnut, cotton, bean straw, vegetable waste, bagasse, sawdust, wood chips or sawdust, waste or recycled paper, coffee pulp or grounds, nut and seed hulls, cottonseed hulls, cocoa bean hulls, cottonseed meal, soybean meal, sunflower husk	Soaking and pasteurisation with inorganic additive chalk (CaCO3)	Besufekad et al., 2020; El-Nour & Ibraheim, 2021; Gao et al., 2020*

More detailed accounts of mushroom production substrates can be found in *Method under patent

Table 3. Comparison of cultivation methods for saprotrophic versus mycorrhizal mushrooms

	Saprotrophic mushrooms	Mycorrhizal mushrooms
Inoculum used	Grain spawn	Slurry spawn, spores
Substrates	Crop waste, wood logs, sawdust, manure	Plant host roots
Substrate range	Wide	Narrow
Place	Indoors, outdoor	Tree nursery
Cropping season	Season independent	Seasonal
Yield level	High	Low
Number of flushes/crop cycle	±3	1 per season

Figure 3. Comparison of subterranean and aerial environments between saprotrophic and mycorrhizal mushroom cultivation.

Table 4. Cultivated mushrooms in SSA by country, genus of mushroom produced, number of mushroom species cultivated, purpose for production and references

Country	Mushroom genera cultivated	Number of species cultivated	Use	References
Botswana	Pleurotus	3^†	Food	Khare et al. (2015)
Burundi	Pleurotus Lentinus Hypholoma Trametes	1 1* 1* 1*		Nteziryayo et al. (2019)
Cameroon	Pleurotus	1	Food	Yongabi (2014), Kinge et al. (2014)
DRC	Pleurotus Lentinus	1 1	Food	Yassine et al. (2022)* Kazige et al. (2022) Mwinyi et al. (2022)*
Ethiopia	Pleurotus	4	Food	Dissasa (2022)*
Ghana	Pleurotus Auricularia Lentinus Volvariella Ganoderma	2 1 1 1 1	Food Medicine	Atikpo et al. (2008) Kavi et al. (2018)
Kenya	Pleurotus Agaricus	1 1	Food	Gateri et al. (2009)
Malawi	Pleurotus Agaricus	2 1	Food	Yongabi (2014), Chioza and Ohga (2014)
Mauritius	Pleurotus Shiitake	1 1	Food	Beejan and Nowbuth (2010)
Namibia	Pleurotus Agaricus Ganoderma	5 1 1	Food Medicine	Yongabi (2014)
Nigeria	Pleurotus Agaricus Auricularia	1 1 1	Food	Ndem and Oku (2016) Onwubuya et al. (2015)
Rwanda	Pleurotus	2	Food	Ngétich et al. (2013)
Sierra Leone	Pleurotus	1	Food	Yaeger et al. (2022)
South Africa	Agaricus Pleurotus Shiitake Lyophyllum Tuber	1 1 1 1 1	Food Food Food Food Food	Chioza and Ohga (2014) Büntgen et al. (2021) Chakwiya et al. (2019) Masevhe et al. (2016)
Swaziland	Pleurotus	1	Food	Mabuza et al. (2012)
Tanzania	Oudemansiella* Coprinus* Pleurotus Volvariella*	1 1 6 1	Food	Magingo et al. (2004) Mshandete and Cuff (2008)
Uganda	Pleurotus Agaricus Volvariella Agrocybe	1 1 1 1	Food	Pavlík and Byandusya (2016) Wendiro et al. (2019)
Zambia	Pleurotus	1	Food	De Jonghe K (20??)
Zimbabwe	Pleurotus Agaricus	2 1	Food	Muswati et al. (2021); Yongabi (2014), Zhou and Parawira (2021)

*Experimental stage. ^†New Pleurotus hybrid (P_o X P_f) included. For unspecified West African countries, Osarenkhoe et al. (2014) report cultivation of Lentinus squarrosulus, Volvariella volvacea, Psathyrella spp., Pleurotus tuber-regium, P. pulmonarius, P. ostreatus and Schizophyllum commune

Figure 4. Stepwise process of mycorrhizal (excluding truffles) mushroom commercial cultivation over the years.

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