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ABSTRACT
The fungi Pleurotus ostreatus and Marasmiellus inoderma are mushrooms that belongs to the family Tricholomataceae and marasmiaceae respectively, they mainly grows in the tropics. The effect of nitrogen sources on the mycelial growth of the fungi was investigated. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of nitrogen on the mycelial extension, biomass and cultural characteristics of the mushrooms. Pleurotus ostreatus and Marasmiellus inoderma were cultured on media supplemented with nitrogen sources using standard potato dextrose agar (PDA) media as the growth medium. The selected nitrogen sources employed as supplements in this study include ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, yeast, lysine, glycine and urea. All nitrogen sources promoted the mushroom growth and the daily mycelial growth of each source was recorded. 10 days after inoculation, the mushroom mycelial was harvested, dried, and the biomass recorded. It was observed that after 5 days of inoculation, the mycelia growth was highest for ammonium nitrate: (72.67±2.5) and least for ammonium sulfate: (51.50±1.3) for P. ostreatus. Ammonium nitrate and Lysine recorded the best mycelia extension of 84.00±1.7 mm and 84.00±1.7 mm respectively after 3 days of inoculation for M. inoderma. The Nitrogen sources tested also influenced biomass of the M. inoderma and P. ostreatus to varying degree.The highest mycelial biomass was recorded for M. inoderma in Lysine supplemented media (1553.67±26.7mg) and least biomass was observed in Yeast supplemented media (1139.00±50.6 mg). On the other hand, P. ostreatus had the highest mycelia biomass (1347.67±20.0 mg) in Potassium nitrate supplemented media. The least biomass for P. ostreatus was observed in ammonium nitrate supplemented media (1083.33±17.6 mg). The morphological characteristics and density pattern of the mycelial of P. ostreatus and M. inoderma were also observed in the course of the study to be different depending on the mushroom and supplement tested.
