ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF PROCESSING TECHNIQUES ON PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTE, STORAGE AND NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION OF WILD MUSHROOM (TERMITOMYCES SPP) AND OYSTER MUSHROOM (PLEUROTUS OSTREATUS) BY KOKOTI GAMELI KWABLA (10362566) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MPHIL CROP SCIENCE DEGREE JULY, 2015 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh i DECLARATION I, GAME LI KWABLA KOKOT I, author of thi s thesis, do her eb y de clar e that ex cept fo r references to other peoples’ work, which have been duly recognized and cited, this is my original s cientific rese a rch wo rk. It was don e in partial fulfil lm ent for Masters in Phil oso ph y Degree, Cr op Science (Post h a rve st science and technol og y) and was subm it ted to the Department of Crop Science, Coll ege of Agri cult ure and Consum er Sciences of the Universit y of Ghana. This work has neit her in whole nor in part be en su bmi tt ed for an y de gr ee el sewher e . GAME LI KWABLA KO KOT I SIGNATURE……………………... (STUDENT) D ATE……………………………... DR. GLOR IA ESS ILF IE SIGNATURE…………………….. (PR INC IP A L SUPER V ISOR) DATE …………………………….. PROF. J OHN OFOSU -A N IM SIGNATURE…………………….. ( CO -S UPER V IS OR) DATE…………………………….. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ii ABSTRACT The stud y is aim ed at as sessi ng the ef fect of proc essi ng te chniques on ph ysical att ribute, storage and nutrit ional compos it ion of wild mushroom ( Termitomyces s pp) and o yster mush room ( Pleurotus ostreatus ) at the Nutriti on Laborator y of No guchi Memorial Insti tut e, Le gon. A stru c ture d questionnaire was used to collect information on farmer’s methods of harvesti n g, mana ging and reducin g post harvest loss es of wi ld mush rooms. The questi onnai re was pr e - t e sted on 50 participants that were randoml y s elected from the Kpelez o comm unit y. Fresh oyster and wild mush rooms harvested from wheat straw and termi te hil l respe cti vel y wer e procur ed fo r th e stud y. The fresh mu shrooms wer e proces sed using sun dr yi ng, bakin g with sun dr yi ng, bl anchin g with sun dr yin g and mud oven dr yin g. Prox im ate compos it ion anal ysis was carri ed out on the fresh and the processed sampl es to determi ne the nutrient compos it ion using Atomic Absorpti on Spectrophotom eter. It was obs erved that mud oven dried preserv e d the nutrient compos it ion of the mushroom bett er than the other methods. Blanched sam ples had lower nutrient compos it ion due to leaching of the nu trient int o the salt solution. Sun dried oyster mush room maintained its ori ginal colour and flavour but had highe r moist ure content. All the othe r pro cessed products had a cream y and bro wn colour. Product s store d in the refri ger ator had l ower moi sture conten t as compared to those s tored at room temperatur e due to moi s ture ingress from the pr oduct to the stora ge env ironment. The differen ces in moist ure contents between the two packa gin g mate rials wer e insi gnificant. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iii DEDICATION This work is dedic ated to m y lovel y parent s, Mr. and Mrs. Kokoti and m y sibl in gs, Michael, J ack , Isa ac, Liz z y, Pea ce, Akos for their praye rs, support and car e shown to me throughout m y sta y on campus . I also dedicat e thi s wo rk to m y fri ends, Yusif, Evans and Samuel. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT M y ult im ate gr ati tud e goes to the Almi ght y Go d for H is mercies, kindness and love shown to me from the be ginni n g to the compl eti on of thi s work. I am ver y grate ful to m y superviso rs, Dr. Gloria Essi lfie and Professor John Ofosu -Anim for their pati ence, and useful su ggesti ons which was outst andin g and en able d thi s project to come thi s far. M y heartf elt thanks also go to Mr. Naphtali G yem peh , for his en cour a ge ment, conce rn, support and assi stance es peciall y in the statis ti cal anal ysis . I acknowled ge the sup port and contribut ion provided by Dr. (Mrs. ) Christi ana A. Amoate y and Lab techni cians, Mr. Owusu Princ e , Ecolo gical La bor ator y, and Mr. Addo, Nogu chi Memorial Insti tut e and Mrs. Mar y Ob odai, Council for Scientific Indust rial Research Insti tut e all in the Universit y of Gh ana . I also acknowl ed ge th e s upport and idea pro vided b y the mush roo m farme rs and consum ers in the Hohoe and Kpelez o comm unit ies and the help, encoura gement an d support from m y school mates, especi all y Samuel Lampt e y. My deep est appreci ati on goes to m y dear pa rents , Mr. and Mrs. Koko t i , m y sibl in gs an d to m y lovel y wife Ak e y Eblorhi Agn es . University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEC LARAT ION............ ........................................................................ ............... .. i ABSTRACT…………… ......................................................................... .............. . ii DED IC AT IO N................ ......................................................................... .............. . iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………… .. iv TABLE OF CONTE NTS ........................................................................ .. ............ . v LIS T OF TA BLES ......... . .............................. ........................................ ................ . ix LIS T OF FIGUR ES ........ ...................................................................... ................ . . x LIS T OF APP END IC ES . ......................................................................... .......... ... . x i LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………. xii CHAP TER ONE ……………………………………………………………….… 1 1.0 IN TRODUC T IO N ……………………………………………………..…… .. 1 1.1 R ati onale of the Study…..………………………………………………….... 3 1.2 Objectives…………………………………………………………………….. 4 CHAP TER TW O ……………………………………………………….……… ... 5 2.0 LIT ERATUR E REV IEW ……………………………………….………… ... 5 2.1 Botan y of Mushroom s …………………………………………. .. …………... 5 2.2 Nutrients Compos it ion and Healt h Bene fit of Mushrooms . …...………….. 12 2.3 Harvesti n g and Pro ce ssi ng of Mushrooms …………...….………………... .. 13 2.3.1 Drying……………………………………...…………….……………… . ... .. 14 2.3.2 Freezing……………………………………………….…………………... . .. 15 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vi 2.3.3 Canning…………………………………………….……………………..… 15 2.3.4 Pickling………………………………………….……………....………… ... 16 2.4 Pests and Diseases of Mushroom …………….……………………………... . 17 2.4.1 Pests of Mus hrooms……………………….……………………………… . . 18 2.4.1.1 Sciarids…………………………………….……………………………………... .. 18 2.4.1.2 Phorids………………………………….…………………………..…………….... 19 2.4.1.3 Cecids………………………………….………………..………………………….. 19 2.4.1.4 Tarsonemid mites………………………………………………………………….. 20 2.4.1.5 Pepper mites…………………………………………………………..…….……... 20 2.4.1.6 Predatory mites…………………………………………...…………….……….... 20 2.4.1.7 Eelworms……………………………………………………………………….… 21 2.4 .2 Diseases of Mushrooms………….…………………………….………… .. . . . 21 2.4.2.1 Verticillium Diseases……………………………………………………………… 21 2.4.2.2 Trichoderma Green Mold…………………………………….………………...... 21 2.4.2.3 Dactylium Diseases………………………………………….………………...….. 22 2.5 The Wil d Mushroom ( Termitomyces sp p ) …..……….…………………... . 2 2 CHAP TER THREE ………………………..……………….…………………… . . 24 3.0 MATER IA LS AND ME THODS …………..………….…………………… ... 24 3.1 S urve y to assess fa rmers ’ methods of reducin g pos tharvest losses of wild mush rooms in the Kpelez o comm unit y in the Vol ta Region of Ghana ……….. 24 3.2 Determi nati on of opti mum condit ions for dr yin g mush rooms ….………... ... .. . . . 24 3.2.1 Pretreatment………………………………………………………………………….. 25 3.2.2 Sun Drying……………………………………………………………………………. 25 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vii 3.2.3 Mud Oven Drying……………………………………………………….…………… 25 3.2.4 Packaging…………………………………………………………………………….. 26 3.2.5 Storage Procedure…………………………………………………………………... 26 3.3 P rox im ate Analysis…………………………………………………………….. 26 3.3.1 Determi nati on of Protein…………………………………………………….. 26 3.3.1.1 Digestion…………………………………………………………………………… 26 3.3.1.2 Neutralization……………………………………………………………………… 27 3.3.1.3 Titration……………………………………………………………………...…….. 27 3.3.2 Determi nati on of Mois ture Content in Mushrooms…………………………. 28 3.3.3 Determi nati on of Ash in Mushrooms………………………………………... 28 3.3.4 Determination of Ascorbic Acid in Mushrooms…………………………….. 29 3.3.5 Determi nati on of Fat in Mushrooms………………………………………… 30 3.3.6 Determi nati on of Carboh yd r ate and Calories in Mushrooms……………….. 31 3.3.7 Determi nati on of Miner a l s in Mushrooms…………………………………... 31 3.3.7.1 Digestion of Samples for Mineral Analysis……………………………………. 31 3.3.7.2 Colour Development of Phosphorus……………………………………….. 32 3.3.7.2.1 Preparation of the Solutions…………………………………………………... 32 3.3.7.2.2 Procedure for Colour Development and Phosphorus Determination….... 33 3.3.7.3 Determination of Calcium and Zinc……………………………………………. 33 3.4 C onsum er Eval uation………………………………………………………….. 34 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh viii C HAP TER FOUR ……………………………………………….…………...…... 35 4.0 R ES U LT S……………………………………………………………………... 35 4.1 Farme rs methods of harv esti ng wild mushroom, postharvest mana gem ent and wa ys of reducin g pos tharvest lo sses of wild mushrooms…………………. 35 4.1.1 General background of wild mushroom collectors…………………………....... 35 4.1.2 Method of harvesting wild mushroom…………………………………………..... 36 4.1.3 Postharvest management of wild mushroom…………………………………..... 37 4.1.4 Ways of reducing postharvest losses of wild mushrooms……………...…….... 39 4.2 P rox im ate compos it ion analysis……………………………………………... . .. 39 C HAP TER FIVE …………………….……………………… .. ………………….. .. 64 5.0 D IS C USS ION ………….…………………………………………………... ... . 64 CHAP TER S IX ……….…………………………………...………………….... .. . . 80 6.0 C ONC LUS IO N AND R ECOMMENDAT ION . .. ……….. ………….……...… 80 6.1 C onc lusion…………………………………………………………………...… 80 6.2 R ecomm endation…………………………………………………………… ... .. 82 R EFERENCES ………………………...………..…………… .………………..... .. 83 APP END IC ES ……………………………….…………………………………… . 90 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ix LIST OF TABLES Table Page 4.1 Demographic characteristics……………………………………………….36 4.2 Harvesti n g of wil d mushrooms……………………………………………. 37 4.3 Postharvest handling of wild mushrooms………………………………….38 4.4 P rox im ate compos it ion of cult ivated & wild fresh mush rooms (per 100 g sa mpl e) . .......... ....... ............................................... ..... 40 4.5 P rox im ate compos it ion of process ed mush rooms (per 100 g sa mpl e) ………………………… .……..…….……..43 4.6 P rox im ate compos it ion of process ed mushrooms stored at 4 o C in rubbe r bags and plasti c contain e rs after 10 da ys (pe r 100 g sampl e ) …….………. .. 46 4.7 P rox im ate compos it ion of process ed mushrooms stored at 30-33 o C in rubber bags and plasti c containers afte r 10 da ys (p er 100 g sampl e) ……. ... 5 0 4.8 P rox im ate compos it ion of process ed mushrooms stored at 4 o C in rubbe r bags and plasti c contain e rs after 20 da ys (pe r 100 g sampl e ) ….….….….... . 54 4.9 P rox im ate compos it ion of process ed mushrooms stored at 30 -33 o C in rubber bags and plasti c co ntainers afte r 20 da ys (p er 100 g sampl e). ….... . . . 5 8 4.10 C onsum er evaluation of dried O yster Mushroom ………………..……….6 1 4.11 C onsum er evaluation of dried Wil d Mushroom ………… ... . .................... ..63 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh x LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 4.1 Baked & Dried Sample ………………………………………………… 41 4.2 S un Dried Sample ………………………………………………………41 4.3 Earthen Ov en Dried Sam ple …………………………………………….41 4.4 Blanch ed & Dried Sampl e ………………………………………………41 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xi LIST OF APPENDICES APP END IX 1 Questi onnaire for farme rs to assess their methods of harvesti ng wild mush rooms and ways of reducin g post harve st loss es in wild mushrooms…………………. ........... ......... ....... ............... . . 90 APP END IX 2 Anal ysis of prox im ate compos it ion of cult ivated and wild fresh mush rooms (per 100 g sa mpl e) ........... ......... . ......... ............. 93 APP END IX 3 Anal ysi s of prox im ate co mpos it ion of processed mush rooms (per 100g sample)….….……………………………………… 95 APP END IX 4 Anal ysis of prox im ate co mpos it ion of process ed mush rooms stored at 4 o C in rubber ba gs and plastic containers after 1 0 da ys (per 100 g sampl e) ……………...……………………………………97 APP END IX 5 Anal ysis of prox im ate co mpos it ion of process ed mush rooms stored at 30 – 33 o C in rubb er bags and plastic cont ainers after 10 da ys (per 100 g sampl e ) ........... .. .... ......................... .... .................99 APP END IX 6 Anal ysis of prox im ate co mpos it ion of process ed mush rooms stored at 4 o C in rubber ba gs and plastic containers af ter 20 days (per 100 g sample)……....... ..... .. ...... ....................... ......................... ... 101 APP END IX 7 Anal ysis of prox im ate co mpos it ion of process ed mush rooms stored at 30 – 33 o C in rubb er bags and plastic cont ainers af ter 20 da ys (per 100 g sampl e ) ........... ........ ......... .................. .................103 APP END IX 8 Questi onnaire for mush r oom farmers and consu mers in Hohoe and Kpelez o comm unit ies to evaluate consum er acc eptabili t y of two dried species of …………. ........ ......... . .... ........................ ...105 APP END IX 9 Table of sco ring …...…….. ......... ......... . .... ................... .......109 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS o C – Degre e Celsi us g – gram mg – mill igram ml – mill ili tre kg – kilo gram pH – power of h yd ro gen et al . – and others % – percent nm – nanometer µg – micro gr am ppm – part per mill ion Kcal. – Kilocalori e AAS – Atomi c Absorpti on Spectrophotom eter University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1 CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION Mushroom is a macrofu ngus with a dist inctive fruitin g bod y, lar ge enou gh to be seen with the nak ed e ye and t o be pick ed b y hand ( Chang and Mil es, 1992) . All mush rooms belong to th e kin gdom of Fun gi, a group ver y di sti nct from plants, anim a ls and bacte ria (Oei, 2003). Th e y lack chloroph yll hence depe nd on other or ganism s for food (Oei, 2003). Most of the cult i vated mush rooms belon g to the ph ylum , Basidi o m yc etes, which produce thei r spores on basidi a while anothe r im portant grou p are As co m yc etes, which produce their spores in asci (Oei, 2003 ; Ar é s et al . , 2007 ). Mushrooms strive well at relative humi dit y level of around 70 -80 % and mo ist ure level of 50 -75%. There are about 69,000 known mush room species of which 2,0 00 are re ga rded as edib le mush rooms (Chang and Tropics, 19 91 ). Edibl e mush rooms have been coll ected and consum ed b y people for over thous an d yea rs ago. Arch aeolo gic al record reveals edi ble mush room species asso ciated with people living 13,000 ye ars ago in Chil e, but it wa s in China where consum pti on of wil d fungus was first reli a bl y noted sev eral hund re d ye ars (Boa, 2004). Some wild species harvest ed in Gha na are Termitomyces spp , Volvariella volvacea , Coprinus spp , Cantherellus aurantiacus (Obodai, 2001). Total comm er cial mush r oom producti on worldwi de has incre ased mo re th an 21 times in 35 yea rs, from about 350,000 tons in 1965 to about 7.5 mill ion tons in 2000 (Boa, 2004). From 2000 to 2009, glob al producti on incr eased t o 67% ex cludi ng unof fic ial producti on figur es eman at ing from China (Verma, 2013 ). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2 Mushrooms are rich in non -starch y carboh ydr ates, proteins, dietar y fib r e, minerals, and vit ami n -B and are quit e low in fat value (Du nkwal et al . , 2007). The proteins of mush room are of hi gh quali t y and rich in various essent ial ami no acids. Wit h rega rd to their good nutrit ional an d high digesti bil it y value s mush rooms are gaini ng importance in today’s healthy diet Dunkwal et al . , 2007). However, in the countr ys ide and forest regions, sev eral species of wild mush rooms are coll ected for consum pti on. Durin g the onset of the rain y se ason , when mush rooms ar e abundant, most people in the rural areas coll ect them from the forests for home con sump ti on and sell for ex tra income (Apetor gbor et al . , 2005) . Despit e its importance, the fi gures for Ghana’s mushroom production over the years were not known ev en after the int roducti on of th e Nati onal Mushroom Develop ment Project in 1990 (Saw ye rr, 2000) to produce ex oti c mushrooms such as Pleurotus spp. The int roducti on onl y brou ght about smal l sc ale mush room farms mo stl y for urban unempl o yed while the technologi es develop ed for the str aw mush roo m, Volvariella volvacea, had not been adequatel y tr ansfe rred to the rur al comm unit ies (Apetor gbor et al . , 2005). Due to its perishable na ture, mush roo ms ar e sus cepti ble to a wid e ra n ge of pests and diseases (Cha, 2004). Comm on pests of mush rooms include mites, midges, mill ipedes and nematodes. Some of these pests damage the fruitin g bodies and att ack the m yceli um in the soil while others like nematode t unnel thro ugh the stalk (Oei, 2003) . Other facto rs such as deh ydr ati o n and enz ymatic brownin g aff e ct mush room quali t y. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3 1.1 Rationa l e of the Study A lot of att enti on has be en given to the pr eserv at ion of mush rooms with litt le int erest in the eff ect of prese rvati on techniques on nutrit ional quali t y. Ov er the ye ars, s ever al methods have been us ed to ex tend the stora ge life of both fresh and pro cessed mush rooms (Oei, 2003; Rai and Arumu ganathan , 2008). In the pres ervat ion and use of these methods to ex tend sh elf life, manufa cture r s and consum e rs are m ore con cern ed with the ph ysi cal att ributes and the or ganolepti c prope rties of th e final product. This emphasis has led to the negl ect b y manu factur ers and consum ers of t he need to be concern ed with the ef fec t thes e methods hav e on the nutrit ional compos it ion of the final product. The stud y the re fore fo cused on dr yin g of Wil d mush room ( Termitomyces spp ) and O yster mush room ( Pleurotus ostreatus ) and its eff ect on nutrit ional compos it ion of the product. The stud y woul d probed the eff e ct of dr yin g on stora ge and ph ysic al att ributes of the mush rooms and also determi ned the most effecti ve and eff icient method for prese rving Termitomyces spp and Pleurotus ostreatus and furthermor e the opti mum temperatur e for prev en ti ng nut rition al loses while maintaining the qu ali t y of the mush room. Consum er anal ysis would be car r ied out to ascertain th e or ganoleptic properties of the dried products by conve rting s ome portion int o mush room powder to evaluate farmers’ practice of preservatio n. The stud y would investi gat e the t yp e of packa gin g material ideal for long t erm pres ervati o n. The stud y would assi s t the people of Kpelez o and its enviro ns to use the ideal met hod to pres erve the bi g haul of wild mush rooms the y ha rveste d during the peak se ason for future s ales and us e. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4 1.2 Objecti ves 1. To assess the methods us ed by wild mushrooms farmers to redu ce post harv est loss es 2. To determi ne the optim um conditi ons for dr yin g mush rooms 3. To evaluate s ensor y prop erties of the dri ed mushr ooms using mush ro om consum ers 4. To stud y the effe ct of packa gin g materials on the shelf life of dried mushro om University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5 CHAPTER TWO 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Botany of Mushroo ms A mu sh roo m (or toad stool ) is the flesh y, sp ore -be arin g fruit ing bod y of a fun gus , t ypicall y produc ed above ground on soil or on its food source. The standa r d for the name "mush room" is the cult ivated white butt on mush room, Agaricus bisporus ; hence the wor d "mush room" is most often appli ed to those fungi ( Basidi om yc ota , Aga ricom yc etes ) tha t have a stem ( sti pe ), a cap ( pil eus ), and gil ls (la mellae, sing. lamell a ) or pores on the underside of the cap (Oei , 2003; Wiki ped ia, 2012). "Mushroom " describ es a variet y of gil led fun gi, with or without stems, and the term is used even more gener all y, to desc ribe both the flesh y fruit ing bodies of some Ascom yc ota and the wood y or leathe r y fru it ing bodies of some Basidi om yc ota , dependin g upon the cont ex t of the word (W iki pedia, 2014). Forms deviating from the standard morpholog y usuall y have more spe c ifi c names, such as " puf fball ", " sti nkhorn ", and " mor el ", and gil led mush rooms themselves are often call ed " a garics " in refe renc e to their sim il arit y to Agaricus or their place Agarical es . B y ex tension, the term "mush room" can also desi gnat e the enti re fun gus when in cult ure; the thallus (call ed a myc eli u m ) of sp ecies formi n g th e fruit in g bodi es call ed mush rooms; or the species its elf (W iki pe dia, 2014). Gener all y, plants make t heir food usin g the sun 's ener g y (photos ynthesis), while anim als eat, then int ernall y di ge st, their food. Fungi do neit her: their m yceli um grows int o or around the food source , secretes enz ym es that digest the food ex ternall y, and the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 6 m yc eli um then absorbs the digested nutrients. There ar e ex cept ions to these gen erali z ati ons; some organism s are placed int o their respecti ve kingd oms based on chara cterist ics other th an their feedin g habit s (M ini str y of F orest R an ge , 20 14) . Some mush rooms are capable of digesti ng woo d, breaking it down int o t he primar y components of for est soil s. The y also dec a y other dead plant and anim al matter. A for est in which nothi ng rotted would soon be choked with accumul ati ng dead le aves and wood y material, and starved for essential miner als and other nutrients bou nd up in the undecompos ed deb ris. (M ini str y of F o rest Ran ge , 2014) Man y mush rooms form partnerships with roots of living tr ees, and the re sult ing fun gus - root is call ed a myc orrhi z a. The mush room 's m yc eli um weav es itself arou nd the root and actuall y alt ers the shape of the root. The mush room absorbs water and m inerals for the tree, but in return th e tre e giv es the mush room nutrients, too. Since both partners benefit from ea ch other, their all iance is consi der ed a s ymbi oti c relations hip (Chang and Mil es, 1989; M ini str y For est Range , 2014 ) . Mushrooms are divided int o four cate gories: (1) t hose that ar e fl esh y and edibl e fall int o the edibl e cate gories , e. g. Agaricus bisporus ; (2) those that are consi dered to have medicinal appli c ati ons ar e refe rred to as medicinal mush rooms , e. g. Ganoderma lucidum ; (3) those that ar e prove d to be or suspected of being poiso nous ar e na med poiso nous mush rooms, e.g. Amanita phalloides ; (4) those in a miscell aneous ca tegor y, which includes a lar ge number of mush rooms whose pr operties r emain less well defined. Thes e ma y tent ati vel y be grou ped together as ³other mush rooms ´ (Hawkswo r th et al . , 1997 ; Chang an d Mil es, 1989 ). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 7 Edible mush rooms are the flesh y and edibl e fruit bodies of sever a l species of macrofun gi ( fun gi which bear fru it ing structur es that are l ar ge enou gh to be se en with the naked e ye ). The y can appear eit he r below ground ( h ypo geous ) or above ground ( epigeous ) wher e the y m a y be picked b y hand (C hang and Mil es, 1989). The y hav e the fruit ing bodies which ar e nutrit ious and deli cious in taste thus are consum ed by th e h uman bein gs (M ahmood et al . , 2012). Edibi li t y ma y be defined b y crite r ia that include absence of poiso nous eff ects on humans and de sirable taste and aroma (Matt il a et al ., 2000). Edibl e mush rooms are consum ed b y hum ans as comesti bles for their nutrit ional value and th e y ar e occasionall y consum ed for their supposed medicinal value. Mushrooms consum ed by those pr acti cin g folk medicine are know n as medicinal mush rooms (Ejelonu et al . , 2014). While hallucinogenic mush rooms (e. g. Psil o c ybin mush rooms ) are occ asionall y consum ed for recr eati onal or reli gious pur poses, the y can produce seve re nausea and disorientati on , and are there fore not comm onl y consi der ed edibl e mush rooms (Boa, 2004). Apart from their edibi li t y and nutrit ional value, mush rooms hav e po tential medicinal benefits ( Boa, 2004; Chan, 1981). Medicin al mush rooms are mush rooms or ex tracts from mush rooms that are thought to be treatm ents for disea ses , yet remain unconfirmed in mainst r e am scienc e and medicin e, and so ar e not approv ed as dru gs or medical treatm ents (Sul li van et al . , 2006). Such use of mush rooms therefo re fall s int o the domain of tradit ional medicine . Preli mi nar y resea rch has shown s ome medicinal mush room isol ates to have ca rdiovascula r, an ti cancer, anti vir al, anti bacterial, anti - parasit ic, anti -inflamm at or y and anti -diab eti c pro pe rties (Sul li van et al . , 2006; Chang and Mil es, 1989). Currentl y, several ex tracts (pol ysac charides - K, pol ys acch ari de pepti de and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 8 lentinan) have widespr e ad use in Japan, Kor ea and China, as potentia l adjuvants to radiation treatm ents and chemot herap y (Bo rch ers et al . , 2008; Sull ivan et al . , 2006) . Bec ause the re is no known test by which to t ell if a mush room is edibl e or not, a mush room shoul d never be eaten unless it has bee n ac curatel y id enti fied an d the edibi li t y of the speci es is known. Even thou gh p oiso n ou s mush roo ms repr esent l ess than 1% of the wor l d’s known mushrooms, we cannot ignore the existence of the relatively few dangerous an d someti mes fatal speci es ( Boa, 200 4; Chang and Mil es, 1989) . Mushrooms must be identified b y a competent m yc olo gical au t horit y. Th ere fore, if on e is not certain whether a given mush room is edibl e or otherwise, it shoul d not be picked. The tox ins contained in various spe cies are ver y diff erent i n chemi cal compos it ion, and thus the effe cts of poiso ning diff er consi der abl y acc ordin g to the species invol ved. In an y case, suspected mush room poi soni ng shoul d nev er be regarded lightl y and immediate medic al assi stance shoul d be sou ght (Chan g and Miles, 1989) . All fun gi possess h yph a (plur al: m yc eli um) th at is locat ed below the gro und. Th e m yc eli um can remain dormant under the ground for man y seasons, sim il ar to the roots of plants. Each hypha that is sent out makes its way through earth/wood/pl ant matter unti l it reach es the surf ac e (Gold in -P erschbach er, 2002 ) During the or ganism ' s sp ecific growin g s eason, th e h ypha e develop into m ature stru ctures capable of reprodu cing s pores. The structur e that is normall y s een above th e ground is the part of the mush room that is producing and dispersing spor es (Goldi n - P erschba cher, 2002) . University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 9 Each spore is a single ce ll that is capable of sending out a hyph a that will develop int o a group and form its own m yc eli um. If the h ypha of one spo re me ets up wit h the hyph a of another, it begins the sexual process of spore prod ucti on through special spore - pro du cing cell s (Oei, 2003; Goldin - P erschbach er, 2002) There are two t ypes of spore - produ cing cell s: asci and basidi a. In asci, the spores are full y contained withi n an outer coverin g. When the spores m ature, the ti p of the ascus breaks op en and the spo res ar e rele ased. In basi dia, the spor es are produ ced ex ternall y. The spores are rele ased when the y break off. (In pu ffball s, the basidi a are contained withi n an outer shell and the spores are releas ed when the casing coll apse s.) (Oei, 2003; Goldin - P erschba cher, 20 02) When the spores of a mushroom ar e releas ed, th e y ma y t ravel a cert ain dist ance be fore the y land. Th e single cel l then sends out hyph ae to help establis h the fungus and gath er food. After the spore has sent out its hypha e, the y will eventuall y m eet u p with the hypha e of another mush room. Afte r the s ex ual process of reproducti on has be gun, t he mush room forms the structures of a "fruit in g bod y" th at will eventuall y produc e and disperse spores. The egg/but ton stage is the earl y form of this fruit ing bod y (Goldi n -P e rsch bacher, 2002 ) . The mature fruit in g body can have va rious struc tures. The fruit ing bod y ma y cont ain a cap, stalk, ring, volva, an d gil ls. The cap normall y houses the spore produc ing surf ace of the fruit ing bod y. In the case of the Amanit a, th e spore - produ cin g cell s are in the gil ls, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 10 but in other t ypes of mush rooms, spores are pr oduced in tubes or insi de the cap (Oei, 2003; Goldi n - P erschbach er, 2002) Some mush rooms grow on a broad ran ge of subst rates while others are se lecti ve. Some Oyste r mush rooms, for ex ampl e, will grow on al most an y bro ad -le aved tr ee wood as well as on straws, corn cobs, and dist il lers grain wast e, while Shii take require s specific tre es (or sawdust) to support its growth. The bulk subst rate material for ma n y mush rooms usuall y consi sts of agricu lt ural waste with hi gh ligno -cell ulose content (Chang and Mil es, 1989; Oei, 2003) . Other nutrients ma y include sugars and proteins. Temperatur e fo r mush room growth shoul d be close to normal outside temperatures. Other wise, ex pensive heat ing or cooli n g s yste ms will be necessa r y. Accordin g to Oei (2003 ), t he subst rate temperatur e is an important paramete r in both m yceli al growth and fruit ing bod y formation. A hi gh subst r ate temper ature (> 35 o C ) , however, can tri gger th e thermophi li c microfl ora le adin g to the kil li ng of the m yc eli um of the cult ivated mush ro om . Oei (2003) opined that opti mum relati ve humi dit y, carbon di ox ide and light are ideal for mush room gro wth. The hi ghe r the relative humi dit y th e lo wer the temper ature an d the ne gati ve effe ct it has on th e fruitin g bod y. Hi gh CO 2 and li ght lev els in the mush roo m house caus e elongation of stems and formati on of small caps (Oei, 2003) . Under th e ri ght cli matic condit ions, the m yc eli u m develops int o small primordia, the n int o a fruitin g bod y. The fruitin g bod y con sis ts of a cap and a stalk . It tak es approx im atel y about 15 days for a fruit ing bod y t o mature (Oei, 2003 ; Boa , 2004 ). Besides the O yste r mush rooms that are cult ivated by urban un empl o ye d in Ghana, some species of wild mush rooms are harv ested b y rural folks during the onset of rain y se asons. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 11 Notabl y amon g them ar e Termitomyces spp (Sibre/Aforti ), Volvariella volvacea (Domo) Coprinus spp (Asasea), Cantherellus aurantiacus (Awiawi /Kofi Korku ) wi th the words in parenthes es indi cati ng t hei r tradit ional names (Obodai, 2001). These m ushrooms are coll ected from the for es ts for home consum pti on and sold for ex tra incom e (Apetor gbo r et al . , 2005). Harvesti n g of wild mush room by people is an old profe ssi on in man y countries. Fo r ex ampl e, the Briti sh Colum bia forests support a mul ti -mi ll ion -doll ar indus tr y based on the co mm ercial pickin g of edib le wild mush rooms, man y of which ar e ex ported to Japan and Europe (Minis tr y of Fo res t Range, 2014 ). In some of the Britis h Colum bia forests the mu shroom crop s are mor e valuable than the tre e cr ops. The most comm on mush rooms pic ked for pro fit in the fall ar e the pine mush room s ( Tricholoma magnivelare), and cha nterell es ( Cantharellus cibarius ); in the sp ring, th e morels ( Morchella spe cies) are picked (Minis tr y o f Fo rest Range, 2014). Mushrooms are af fect ed by all kinds of pests and diseases. Pests a nd diseases affe ct mush rooms in several ways: 1) b y keeping the sp awn from growin g int o the subst rate; 2) by coloni z ing the subst rate faster than the m yceli um of the s pa wned mush ro om; 3) dama ging the m yc eli um of the sp awned mush roo m; and 4) b y dama gin g the mush room itself (Oei, 2003). Other factors such as poor strains, unsui table subst rates and unsui table cli matic condit ions can adversel y af fect yield of the mush rooms (Oei, 2003). The organism s responsi ble for pests and diseas es in mush room cult ivation include insects, termi tes, mites, nematod es, snail s and rodents, pa rasit ic fun gi, sap roph yti c fun gi, ba cteria and viruses and the best wa y to fight these or ga nism s is to prevent the m (Oei, 2003). Strict h ygi enic me asures and ph ysi cal bar riers are most important (Cha, 2004). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 12 2.2 Nutrients Composi ti o n and Health Benefi t of Mushroo ms Mus hr ooms ar e rich in non-st ar chy car bohydr at es, prot eins, dietar y fibr e, and vitami n -B and ar e quit e low in fat value (Dunkwal et al . , 2007 ). The dr y matter of mush room fruit bodies is about 5 – 15% and contains 19 – 35% proteins (S yn yts ya et al . , 2008). The content of carboh ydr ates, which are mainl y pres ent as pol ysa ccharid es or gl yc oprotein s, r an ges 50 – 90 chitin, Į- and ȕ- gl ucans and other hemi c ell uloses are in abund ant in mush rooms (S yn yts ya et al . , 2008). Edibl e mush rooms ar e good sources of vit ami n B2, nia cin and foliate, with contents varyi n g in the ranges 1.8 – 5.1, 31 – 65 and 0.30 – 0 .64mg/100 g dr y weight resp ecti vel y (Ma tt il a et al . , 2001 ). Among the mush rooms, Shiitake has been identified as containing a good sour ce of dietar y fibre (3.3 g/100g fresh weight); while Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus spp contained 1. 5 -2.4g/100 g fresh wei ght (Matt il a et al . , 2001 ). Compared with vegetables, mush rooms are a good sourc e of man y min e ral elements. The contents of potassium , phosphoru s, zinc and copper vari e d in the ran ges 26.7 – 47.3 g/k g, 8.7 – 13.9g/k g, 47 – 92m g/k g and 5.2 – 35m g/k g dw , respe cti vel y. Agaricus bisporus contain large amount s of Selenium (3.2mg/k g dw), while Cad mi um content in shii take mush rooms is quit e high (1.2 mg/k g dw) (M att il a et al . , 2001). Apart from their nutrit ional value, mush rooms posses s medicinal benefits (Chan, 1981 ). In China, 20 mush room species have been document ed by Li Shi - Zhen of having medicinal propert y and hav e be en used for tre ati ng dif fer ent kinds of diseases. Notabl y amon g thes e species ar e Ganoderma lucidum, Poria cocos, a nd Tremella fuciformis (Sulli van et al . , 2006). Bec ause of their low calorie value, int ake of mush rooms by the obese help cut down their calorie level (Rai and Arumuganathan , 2008). Being low in fat , but desirable fat devoid of cholest erol, mush rooms are ideal die t for the hea rt pati ents . Mushrooms are University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 13 high in protein with no starch and su gar and are there fore recomm end ed for diabeti c pati ents (Rai and Arumugan athan, 2008). Mushrooms contain anti -carcino genic subst ances responsi ble for reducin g and pr event ing the developm ent an d formation of cancer cells in humans BernaĞ and -aworska, 200). They enhance macrophage function and host resistance to microorganisms’ infection Lindequist et al . , 2005). The presenc e of vit ami ns, minerals, and iron in addit ion to protein in the mush rooms help m aint ains haemo globi n level in humans thereb y prev enti ng an aemi a (Rai and Arumugan athan, 2008). Rai and Arumuganathan (2008) repo rt ed that mush rooms are high in fibre and alkaline elements and ar e suit able for those su ffe ring from h yper acidi t y and const ipat ion. Man y pol ys ac charid e -b ound proteins produ ced b y Basidi om yc ete s fu ngi have been classified as anti -tum our chemi cals b y the US Nati onal Cancer Insti tut e (Sull ivan et al . , 2006). 2.3 Harves ti ng and Proces si ng of Mushroo ms Mushrooms form primordia (h yph al knots ) withi n 10 days after spawnin g and are able to produce read y- t o -pick fruit bodies withi n 15 days at an opti mum temperature of about 23 o – 28 o C (Oei, 2003) . The st a ge at pickin g mush rooms depends on the consum er prefe renc e and the hi ghe st profit abil it y. For o yster mush rooms, pickin g s hould be done when the outer ma r gin of the fruit ing bodies has onl y just rolled inwards, on the ver ge of becomi ng horiz ontal. Contrar y, Termitomyces are picked wh en the veil s are yet to open . In thi s wa y, th e priz e i s high e r and the inf esta ti on by nematode is reduced. Id eall y, mush rooms shoul d be picked with minim um handli ng since the y are easil y dama ged (Oei, 2003). Harv esti ng is done b y twist ing th e fruit ing bodi es from th e subst rate b y hand, leavin g no bit s of stem behin d. Oyste r mush room, for inst ance, can eit her be University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 14 harvested in bundles or as single fruit ing bo dies. However, some species such as Termitomyces c an onl y be harvested sin gl y. Afte r harvesti ng, mush rooms are eit he r sold fresh or process ed int o differ ent forms in a pack . Unde r ideal con dit ions, packed mush rooms for the fresh market are cove red with a plastic film and coole d rapidl y aft er harvesti n g (Oei, 2003 ). The plasti c film provides good protecti on from wate r loss, as lon g as the stora ge temp eratur e is more or less constant . The taste and nutrit ion al value of fresh mush rooms is usuall y bett er than that of conserved mush rooms. Neverthel ess, conserv ati on methods are nec essar y wh en onl y part of the harvest can be sold fresh. Cannin g, b rin ing and dr yin g are the m ost comm on techniques, but not all conservati on methods are equall y suit able for all different t ypes of mush rooms (Oei, 2003; B yun g, 2004) . Canned oyster mush rooms , for inst ance, taste horribl e ex cept Pleurotus cystidiosus and Pleurotus abalonus . Contrary, o yster and shii take mush rooms giv e off a spe cific fra gran ce after dr yin g. The se lecti on of the method for pro cessi n g mush rooms depends, am ong othe r thi n gs, on the ult im ate use of the products as well as on the storage period envisaged BernaĞ et al . , 200 6). 2.3.1 Dryin g The oldest and sim plest method of proc essi ng mush rooms is drying BernaĞ et al . , 2006). Dr yin g pres erves the mush rooms by removi ng enough wate r to ina cti vat e the enz ymes and microor ganism s (Byu n g, 2004 ). Fresh mus hroom contain s about 90% wate r an d ex posure of the product to temperatures of 55-70 o C for a number of hours to a final moi sture content of 10 % and below ensures th at it does not deterior ate easil y (Rai and Arumuganathan, 2008; B yun g, 2004). How eve r , longer dr yin g at low temperatur es is University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 15 safer than faster dr yin g on high heat, as the mush rooms could become t oasted at high temperatu r es (Oei, 1996) . Acco rding Oei ( 1996 ) dr yin g of mush rooms co uld be artificial or sun dr yin g. Th e disad vanta ges of sun dr yin g are that: a) sand and du st decreas e the quali t y and valu e of the product; b) th ere is an infestation b y ins e ct ther e b y m aking the product unsafe to eat. It is however recomm ended to spread the mush rooms on a plat form above the ground (Oei, 1996 ). Dr yin g whethe r artificial or natural has si gnific ant eff ect on the colour of the dried product due to the ex posure t o temperature, moi sture of the mush room and humi dit y of the air (Rai and Arum ugan athan, 2008). 2.3.2 Freezin g Fre ez ing is the best pro cessi ng method for pres erving the natur al taste and aroma of mush rooms (Lobasz ews ki and Pacz ynska, 1990 ) . Acco rdin g to Rai and Arumuganathan (2008) in order to pr ese rve mush room for about a year or more, the pr oduct must be freez ed at a temper atur e of -18 o C and below. At thi s temper ature, t he growth of microor ganism s, respirat ion and moi sture loss from the mush rooms is minim i z ed. In general, the nutritive value of frozen products exceeds that of sterilized food BernaĞ et al . , 2006). 2.3.3 Cannin g C anning is by far th e most comm on process used for pr eservin g mush rooms (B yun g, 2004). This techniqu e ca n prese rve mush rooms for l on ger periods up to a year or more (Rai and Arumuganathan , 2008). The process can be divi ded int o various unit operati ons namel y cle anin g, blanch ing, filli n g, steril iz ati on, cooli ng, labeli n g and packa gin g (Rai and Arumuganathan, 20 08; Byun g, 2004). Mus hro oms must be canned in a pressure University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 16 canner fo r the corr ect time and pressure to ensur e their safet y otherwise the y m a y contain the deadl y botul ism tox in (Schafer, 2010 ). Pre -proc essi ng of mush rooms befor e steril iz ati on pla ys an important role in maintaini ng good quali t y of canned products BernaĞ et al . , 2006). Th e measures most frequ ent l y appli ed in preli mi nar y processi n g ar e soaking and blanchin g in solut ions preventi ng the darkening of the produc ts (Rodrigo et al . , 1999). J aworska et al . (2003 ) report ed that th e addit ion of brine in the producti on of steril iz ed mush rooms decreas es the dr y matter by 26 – 28%, tot al sugars by 12 – 29%, tot al acids by 29 – 36% and tot al nit rogen by 24 – 29% as compared to raw material after blanching or afte r soaki ng followed b y bl anchin g. Galoburda et al . (201 5) opined that blanching mush rooms at high temp eratur e (100 o C ) denatur es protein. However, Vett er (2003) reported that thi s method of pro cessi n g do es not si gnificantl y aff ect the cont ent of protein or fats in the mu shroom but decre ases th e level of dr y matter and ash and some mineral component such as potassium , phosphorus, magn esium and at the same time increas es the content of sodi um, calcium and iro n. It is worth noti n g that the nutrit ional compos it ion of an y proc essed p roduct depends on the quali t y of th e raw material used in the production BernaĞ et al . , 2006). 2.3.4 Picklin g P ickling mush rooms is a valuable pro cessi n g me thod: it invol ves lacti c bacteria, which have a bene ficial ef fect on the human organism and impart a pleasant ar oma and taste to the pickled food BernaĞ et al . , 2006). Pickling is a long-te rm prese rvati on of mush rooms in an economi call y viab le way. The produ ct produced afte r pickling is call ed pickle. These pickles are good appeti z ers and the y add pala tabili t y to the meal (Rai and Arumuganathan, 2008 ). Mushrooms for pickling are blan ched or fried in oil unti l the y University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 17 become bro wn dep ending upon t aste prefer enc e. Various condim ents are ground or fried in oil separatel y and ad ded to the mush room af ter which the contents are mix ed and cooked sli ghtl y for few minutes. The mix ture is all owed to cool and fill in jars. Vine gar is added fo r taste and longe r stora ge and the con tainer is topped up wit h oil (Rai and Arumuganathan, 2008 ). 2.4 Pests and Diseases of Mush roo m A wide ran ge of dise ases and pests can caus e se rious problems in mush ro om cult ivation, and mana gem ent of tho se diseases and pests is a ke y factor in suc cess ful mush room producti on (Cha, 2004 ). The main reasons fo r th e ex ist ence of man y dise ases and pe sts problems in mush room cult ivation were due to the fact that: 1) Mushro om cult ivation condit ions such as high humi dit y and warm tem peratur e ar e favored b y man y pathogens and pests ; 2) There is a limi t on chemi cal use for control of diseas es or pests in mushroom cult ivation; 3) Pathogens and pests ar e readil y att ra cted insi de and/or outsi de mush room houses invol ved with conti nuous cult ivati on; and 4) Growin g houses are not usuall y well equipped for environment al contr ol (Cha, 2004). Com mon pests of mush rooms include mites, midges, mill ipedes an d nematodes. The y dam age the fruit ing bodies, att ack the m yc eli um and tunnel through the stalk result ing i n yield loss es. Nematodes att ack result in brown, water y mush rooms and in ex treme cases, so gg y, smell y compos t . Even th ough the mush room itself is a fungus, it can in turn be af fected by a ran ge of fun gal pat hogens su ch as Dactylium, Fusarium , Mycogone , Papulaspora , Scopulariopsis , Trichoderma and Verticillium . Apart from fun gus disease s, bacteria and viruses att ack mush ro o m as well . Pseudomonas is a bact erium that ca uses ye ll ow to brown blot ches on the cap, which ma y ex ude stick y residues. Fo r an y pe st and disease University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 18 mana gement, sanit ati on and strict h ygi ene are the most important preventi ve methods for pest and dise ase control. Wit hout them, effecti ve disease or pest control will never be achieved. Ever y practi ce must focus on ex clusi on and eli mi nati on of pat hogens or pests (Cha, 2004). Besides pe st and disease mana gem ent and control, timel y processi n g and preserv ati on of the mushrooms at storage temp eratur e of 0 -2 ℃ withi n five hours of picking stop metaboli c process (B yun g, 2004). R ai and Arumu ganath an ( 2008 ) report ed that mush room after har vesti ng conti nue to gro w , respire, mature, and se nesce result in g in weight loss , veil -ope ning, bro wning, wilt ing and finall y d eterior ate. Imp roper and unti mel y harv esti ng incr ease pests and dise ases att ack of the mush room (Santosh et al . , 2014). Some comm on pest s and diseases of mushr ooms have been discuss e d below. 2.4.1 Pests of Mushro o ms 2.4.1.1 Sciari ds These are the main mush room pests . La rvae kil l pinheads and pea -siz ed mush rooms, and tunnel in stalks and caps. Adults are the main culprits in disease spread. The y are small black flies longer th an phorids, broad and have long antenn ae. Th e y ar e att ra cted to compos t for egg la yin g immediatel y after cool -do wn and throu ghout the life of th e crop . La rva e have a dist inct black he ad and their gut contents can be seen thro ugh their bod y wall (Staunton and Dunn e, 1999 ). A gene rati on tak es abou t 5 weeks to turn ov er s o that eggs l aid e a rl y in the spawn run give rise to adult s at about the first flush. It is the offsprin g of these that do most damage. Sciarids are mainl y inha bit ants of the casing, where the y do most damag e (Staunton and Dunne, 1999; Phil li p, 2002) . University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 19 The ke y to good scia ri d control is ex clusi on du ring sp awn run b y having well se aled gro wing tunn els (Staunton and Dunne, 1999; Phil li p, 2002). 2.4.1.2 Phorids Adult’s phorids are much smaller and shorter than sciarids and tend to fly less. They are acti vel y att racted (o ften fro m consi derable dist ances) to compos t or casing in which spawn is running. The life cycle takes 2 weeks at 25 o C and 5 weeks at 18 o C . Consequentl y eggs laid earl y in the spawn run give rise to adult s soon after casin g and these reprodu ce again to give ver y h i gh populations of adult s 4-5 weeks int o cropping (Staunton and Dunne, 19 99 ). The adult flies are not as significant in disease spread as sciarids but are a great nuisance to pickers. La rva e are po int ed at one end and blunt at the other. The y do no t have a black head. The y feed on mush room m yc eli um. The ke y to efficient phorid cont r o l is ex clusi on during spa wn run (Staunt on and Dunne, 1999; Phil li p, 2002). 2.4.1.3 Cecids C ecids are unusu al in that mature larv ae re gula rl y spli t to give man y daught er larv ae thereb y dispensing with t he adult stage in the int e rests of rapid population increas e. This means that the y hav e the potential to reach huge numbe rs in a short time and the consequenc e of thi s is large -scal e contamination of mush rooms, bags etc. and eas y sp re ad between crops. La rva e also car r y ba cteria t hat cause brownin g of the stalks of mush rooms. Adults are rarel y s een. Larv ae live most l y in compos t and suck the contents from mushroom m yc eli um (Staunton and Dunne, 1999; Phil li p, 2002). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 20 2.4.1.4 Tarson em id mites These invi sibl e microsco pic mites can occu r in vast numbers in crops an d their feedin g causes reddish -bro wn di scolorati on of the base of the stem. Badl y anc hored and off - colour mush rooms are also s ympt oms of their feedin g on m yc eli um. The ke y to thei r control is good betw een - crop h ygi ene (Staunton and Dunne, 1999; Phil li p, 2002). 2.4.1.5 Pepper m it es These minute brownish mites someti mes swarm in huge numbers on the casing su rfa ce and mush rooms. The y do not feed on mush r oom m yc eli um but on weed moul ds particularl y green moul d , their occur renc e being a s ympt om of its pres e nce. Th e hu ge numbers disappea r after a few da ys and ther e is no yield loss (Staunton an d Dunne, 1999; Phil li p, 2002). 2.4.1.6 Predator y m it es R obber mites ( Parasitus sp) can occu r in lar ge nu mbers. The y ar e pred ator s of the other small organisms’ present e.g. fl y la rva e, mites, eelworms. The y can re ac h numbers that anno y picke rs. Lon g le gged mites ( Linopodes sp ) beh ave sim il arl y. Th es e are benefi cial mites as the y are nat ural enemi es o f mush room pests . Parasitus has been use d ex perimentall y at Kins e a l y to control scia rids (Staunton and Dunne, 1999; Phil li p, 2002). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 21 2.4.1.7 Eelworm s R habdit id nematodes or eelworms are bacte rial feeders and their presen ce on the surf ac e of compos t or casin g in dicates some de ficienc y in the compos t, which has result ed in bacterial decompos it ion. As the y do not feed on m yc eli um, their pres ence do es not n ecessa ril y result in yield loss (Staunton and Dunne, 1999; Phil li p, 2002). 2.4.2 Diseas es of Mushro o ms 2 .4.2.1 Verti cil li u m Diseases Verticillium is one of the most significant dise ase s of comm er cial Agaricus producti on. It is endemi c on man y mu shroom farms and can cause subst anti al yi eld reducti on. It can occur in nature in addit ion to cycli ng withi n a mush room farm, traveli ng from older to newer growin g rooms. Sym ptom of the diseas e in clude small spot ti ng on the surfa ce of a mush room cap to a compl ete infecti on of the fruit ing bod y. The sp ot area of the mush room infected b y t he fun gus remain stunt e d while t he uninfected part grow we ll (Phi ll ip, 2002). 2.4.2.2 Trichoderm a Green Mold Trichoderma harzianum is a relativel y ne w dise as e of comm er cial mush ro om producti on. Aggressi ve strains of Trichoderma harzianum have been associated with the comm ercial producti on of Agaricus bisporus . Trichoderma species are as ex ual fun gi that prop a gate through ve getative grow th and producti on of as ex ual spores (conidi a ) . The y can also reproduc e by sex ual me ans. Trichoderma myc eli um grows on compos t and competes aggressi vel y wit h mush r oom m yc eli um. Trichoderma m yceli um is gr a y i n the beginni n g University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 22 and then chan ges to white, becomi n g ver y dense. After fruitin g, its spo res turn it a dark gr een (Phi ll ip, 2002). 2.4.2.3 Dactyliu m Diseases Dactylium mildew, or cobweb mol d, can be reco gniz ed b y its weft y, cott on -li ke m yc eli um. The m yc eli um will cover the surfac e of the casing as well as the surfac e of mush rooms and mush room pins. The m yceli um is usuall y white, but ca n be gra y and often turns pink or yell o w wit h age. Inf ected mus hrooms devel op a soft, wet rot. Cobweb mol d is a relativel y minor disease of m ushrooms, but because of its abil it y to gro w quickl y, it can spre ad over man y mush room s. If left unche cked, wide spread mildew can result in unsalable m ushrooms and eventual si gnific ant yi el d loss (Phi llip, 2002). 2.5 The Wild Mushroom (Termitomyces sp p) Termites are found most l y in the tropics, some in temperate zones and ver y few in the cooler cli mates. Wit h about 2600 species worldwide the y are prob abl y the domi nant organism in tropical forest environments (Gover, 2008 ). One s ubfami l y, the Macrotermiti nae Termite s consum e plant mate rial , const ruct ³combs´ with their excreted µpseu dofaeces’ and inoculated with the spores of an exosymbiont fungus, Termitomyces species (Ha rkonen et al ., 2003 ; Bobb y et al ., 2011). T he fun gus grows on the combs and produces nutrit ious fungal compos t containing a variet y of ene r geti c all y ex pensive nit rogen compounds that is consum ed by the term it es (Gover, 2008). The fungal comb is a kind of ex tracorporeal digeste r to which the termites have µoutsourced’ cellulose and li gnin digesti on. The fun gus - enriched food all ow s the termi te colon y to mobi li z e energ y at faste r rates and are not limi ted by the bacte rial endos ymbi onts of most other spe cies of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 23 termi te. Acco rding to Gover (2008) ; Bobb y et al . (2011), a mature colo n y will have a tot al of about 40 kg of fungal combs , each co mb located in a semi -enclosed gall er y around the peripher y of the aboveground moun d nest and when the rains arrive , the fungus , Termitomyces p roduces mush rooms that penetrate the nest and emer ge abov e ground. The edibl e and nutrit ious mush rooms are hi ghl y priz ed as a deli ca c y and contribut e to the local ec onom y. There ar e more than 60 Termitomyces tax a described, but reli abl y onl y 18 spe cies, coll ected mainl y from West Africa, ar e reaso nabl y well known, the rest are eit her s ynon yms or badl y des c ribed and difficult to identif y. A genus, Sinotermitomyces has been report ed from China, but species are difficult to classif y (Gover, 2008 ). Characte risti call y, Termitomyces has pinki sh spores, a cap and sti pe at the top of a long µpseudorhiza’ that arises from the comb and the cap has a µperforatorium’ or µumbo’ that assi sts the mushroom to penetrate th e hard groun d and there is a termite as so ciation. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 24 CHAPTER THREE 3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS 3.1 Survey to ass ess farmer s ’ metho ds of reduci ng pos tha rv es t los ses of wil d mus hro o ms in the Kpelezo communi ty in the Volta Region of Ghana The surve y was conduct ed betwe en Nov ember and Dec ember, 201 4 to obtain baseli ne data on farmers’ knowle dge on method s of harve sti ng, post harvest man a gement and wa ys of reducin g post harvest l osses of wild mush rooms in the Kpelez o comm unit y in the Volta Region of Ghana. Fift y farmers (50 ) were random l y sele cted from the com muni t y for the surve y. P re -tested s emi - s t ructured questi onnair e s were read to the far mers by tr ained enumerators and th eir res ponses recorded. Det ail s of questi onnaire items ad mi nist ered ar e shown in Appendix 1. 3.2 Determi na tio n of opti mum co ndi tions for dryi ng mus hro o ms Two fresh mush room varieti es , Pleurotus ostreatus and Termitomyces spp wer e purchased from two farm ers at Hohoe and Kp elez o and kept in sepa rate l y covered plastic containers. The mush ro oms were transpo rted the same da y to No gu chi Memorial Research Insti tut e, Universit y of Ghan a for anal ys is. The mush rooms were washed under running tap wate r to remove soil particles and cut int o small pieces. The y were kept in plastic containers and sto red in a refri ge rator at 0 o C . University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 25 3.2 .1 Pretreat men t Pretreat men t The two varieti es of fres h mush room were sli c ed int o small pieces with knife. 1000 g of each mush room variet y was wei ghed fo r each tr e atm ent, making a tot al weight of 8000 g for the two varieti es. E ac h variet y was subj ected to two pretr eatm ents , nam el y, bl anchin g and grilli ng prior to the actual deh yd rati on. Blanchin g was don e by dippi n g th e mush rooms in hot brine solut ion at 100 o C for 15 minutes. This solut ion contained 20 g of sodi um chloride diss olved in 500ml of water. G rilli ng was do ne b y spreadin g the mush rooms on wire mes h and plac ed ove r burnin g char coal . Th e mush roo ms were tu rned periodicall y for 15 minutes. For the 4 treatm ents used, each sampl e was dried from an ini ti al moi sture con tent of 8 0 – 85 per cent on fresh weight basis to the final moi sture content of 10 percent on dr y weight basis . T he tr e atm ent s and dr yin g meth ods empl o yed were don e ac cordin g to t he procedu re pro p osed by Rai and Arumu ganath a n (2008 ). 3.2 .2 Sun Dryin g The two varieti es of the mush room wer e spr ead on tw o sep arate por celai n tra ys and sun dried . The atm ospheric temperatur e durin g the 7 days dr yin g period ran ge d between 30 – 33 o C and relative humidi t y ran ged from 65 – 70 percent . 3.2 .3 Mud Oven Dryin g The two vari eti es of the mush room were sp read on stainle ss st eel tra ys and kept in a mud oven at 80 o C for 2 hours. The sampl es were removed from the oven and al lowed to cool at room temperatur e. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 26 3.2 .4 Packagin g Two t ypes of packa gin g material, rubber ba g and plastic container, were used. The dried sampl es were pack a ged i n these materials fo r prox im ate anal ysis at da ys 0, 10 and 20. 3.2 .5 Storage Proced u re The dried Termitomyces spp was divi ded into 2 main parts. Each part w as sub-divi ded int o 8, givi ng a tot al of 16. The same proced ure was used to divi de the Pleurotus ostreatus . Four processi n g techniqu es wer e used s uch that each spe cie s was packa ged in 4 rubber ba gs and 4 plast ic containers. This result ed in havin g 4 rubber ba gs and 4 plastic co n tainers pa cka ges for each spe cie s under ea ch stora ge condit ion. S ince 2 stora ge condit ions (i.e. storing at 4 o C and 30 – 33 o C ) were empl o yed, 16 sampl es (8 for each species ), in each stora ge condit ion were used. Th e enti re stor a ge du rati on was 20 da ys. 10 days stora ge int ervals were all owed b e fore th e sampl es were anal yz e d for prox im ate compos it ion. The compos it ion anal ysis was re peated after anoth er 10 days stor a ge int ervals. 3.3 Proxima te Analys is 3.3 .1 Deter min ation of Protein 3.3 .1.1 Digesti on Five gr ams ea ch of the dried mush rooms sampl es was weigh ed int o a di ge st ion flask and digest ed b y heati n g in the presen ce of conc entrat ed sulph uric acid and ca tal yst s (copp er sulph ate and potassium sulph ate at a rati o of 1: 10) . The digestion conv erts nit rogenous compound int o amm onium sulph ate , and other organic matter to carbon dioxi de (CO 2 ) and water (H 2 O). Ammo nia gas is not liberated in an acid solut ion because the amm onia University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 27 is in the form of the ammoni um ion (NH 4 + ) which binds to the sulph ate ion (SO 4 2 - ) to form (NH 4 ) 2 S O 4 . 3.3 .1.2 Neu tral izat ion After the digesti on was compl eted, the digesti on flask was connected to a recei vin g flask b y a tube. The solut io n in the digesti on flask was made alkaline by t he addit ion of concentr ated sodi um hydrox ide, which converts the amm onium sulph ate int o amm o nia gas. The amm onia gas formed wa s liber ated fr om the solut ion and re moved int o the receivi n g fl ask – which contained an ex cess of H 2 S O 4 . The low pH of the solut ion in the receivi n g flask converts the amm onia gas int o the amm onium i on, and H 2 S O 4 to the sulph ate ion. 3.3 .1.3 Titrati on The nit ro gen content was esti mated b y titrati on of the amm onium sulph ate form ed with standard sulph uric acid, using a suit abl e indi ca tor to dete rmine the en d -point of th e reacti on. The con centr ati on of hyd ro gen ions (in mol es ) requi red to reach the end -point is equivalent to the conce ntrati on of nit rogen that was i n the mush rooms. The nit rogen content in the food was determi ned usin g the equ a ti on below :  2 4 2 40 0 . . 14100H SO Vol NaOH Vol Normality of H SON Wt of sample in mg    The nit rogen content wa s converted to prot ein co ntent by mul ti pl yin g wit h a conve rsion factor of 6.25 . That is % % 6.25Protein N  University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 28 3.3 .2 Deter min ation of Moistu re Conten t in Mushrooms An empt y dish was wei ghed and 2g of the mus hrooms was wei ghed int o the dish and placed in a hot air oven for 24 hours at a temperature of 105 o C . The sampl e was all owed to cool in a desiccator an d rewei ghed to obtain th e differ enc es in weight. The perc enta ge moi sture loss was calcula ted as follow s : Wt of empty dish a Wt of dish sample before drying b  Wt of dish sample after drying c  .Cal Initial weight b a  Final weight c a  % 100%Initial weight Final weightMoisture xInitial weight  3.3 . 3 De ter min ation of Ash in Mushrooms An empt y crucibl e was weigh ed and 2g of the m ushroom s was wei ghed i nto the crucibl e. The sampl es were pla ced int o an Ik emot o 718 2 Autom ati c Muffle Fu rnac e at temperatur e of 600 o C for 1 hour. Th e cru cibl es wer e remov e d, cover ed and all ow ed to cool at room temperatur e. The crucib les and the ash were weigh ed repe atedl y to obtain near to const ant wei ght. The pe r centa ge ash was calculat ed from the dat a obtained as follow s : University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 29 Wt of empty crucible a Wt of crucible sample before ashing b  Wt of crucible sample after ashing c  .Cal Initial weight b a  Final weight c a  % 100%Initial weight Final weightAsh xInitial weight  3.3 . 4 Deter min ation of Ascorb ic Acid in Mushrooms Two grams ( 2 g ) of mushroom powder was groun d with 20 ml of 0.4% ox ali c acid for 5 minutes and filter ed. Fiv e mill il it res (5ml ) of the filtrate was titrated again st blue d ye 2:6 dichlorophenol indo phen ol and the titre value no ted. Th is was dupli cated to obtain tw o more titre valu es. Based on the result s, the asco rbic acid in 2g of the mush rooms was calculated. For ex ampl e: 1 0.21If ml dye mg ascorbic acid 0.5Then ml dye x 0.5 0.21 0.105x mg   University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 30 3.3 . 5 Deter min ation of Fat in Mushrooms Two grams ( 2 g ) of th e mush room sampl e was weigh ed int o the thi mbl es. The thi mbl es were plu gged li ghtl y wit h cott on wool, sli pped int o the thi mbl e holders an d cli ppe d int o posi ti on in the ex tracti on chambe r . Fort y mill il it res (40 ml ) of dieth yl e ther was added to each chamb er to ensure that the sampl e in the th im bles was compl et el y covered b y the solvent. A rubbe r tube was conne cted to a runnin g tap to all ow water to ci rculate throu gh the ex tractor to cond ense the evapor ated ether. Th e sti ll pots of th e ex tract or were plac ed on the heaters and the s witches of heate rs were t urn ed on. The heat gene r ated by the sti ll pots caused th e eth er in t he ex tracti on ch amber to boil . The boil ing all owe d all fats in th e mush rooms to diss olve int o the ethe r. Appro x im atel y, 40 minutes were all owed betw ee n each ex tracti on. The k no bs beneath the ex tracti on chambers wer e t urned to drain the ethe r in the ex tracti on chamber s for the nex t ex tracti on. The thi mbl es were rem oved and dried in a desiccator . The thi mbl e and the sampl e were weigh ed to determi ne the amount of fat ex tracted as follow s : Wt of empty thimble a Wt of thimble sample b  ( )Wt of thimble sample cotton before extraction c   ( )Wt of thimble sample cotton after extraction d   .Cal Wt of sample b a x   Wt of fat c d y   % 100yFat x  University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 31 3.3 . 6 Deter min ation of Carboh yd rate and Calories in Mushrooms The following formul ae prescribed b y Jou rnal of AOAC Internati onal (2 000 ) wer e used for the calculati on of Car boh ydr ate and Calori es . ( )Carbohydrate Solids Protein Fat Ash    ( .) 9 ( ) 4 ( ) 4 ( )Calories Kcal Fat Protein Carbohydrate   3.3 . 7 Deter min ation of Mineral s in Mushrooms 3.3 .7.1 Digesti on of sam ples for m in eral an alysis Dr y mush room sampl e ( 0.1g) was wei ghed int o a cle an dr y 125m l µpyrex’ conical flask. Four mill il it res (4ml ) concentrated sulph uric acid (H 2 S O 4 ) was added and the flask was swirled ca refull y to ensu re that the acid react wit h the sampl e to chan ge it to carbon. The flask (and contents) was heated in a fume hood on an electric hot plate set at ³medium´ heati ng (125 o C ) fo r 1 ho ur. Ten drops of h ydro ge n perox ide (H 2 O 2 ) was added: addin g 3 - 4 drops slowl y at a time to avoid vi gorous rea cti on of the contents. Th e flas k was swi rled , keepin g the contents at the bott om of the flask and reheated but avoi ding ex cessi ve heati ng that causes spatt erin g. Six drops of H 2 O 2 was car efull y added an d the flask was reheat ed . Addit ion of 6 drops of H 2 O 2 conti nued un ti l the colour chan ge d from bla ck to dark brown. The burn er temperature was incre a sed to 350 o C on the hot plate while heati ng conti nued. Six (6 ) drops of H 2 O 2 were again add ed to the mix ture while heati ng of the flask conti nued . When the solut ion sta ye d colourl ess from heati ng, 6 drops of hydro gen pe rox ide were added and then left for th e la st time on µhigh’ burner for 10 – 15 minutes. The colo urless solut ion obtained was an indi cati on that the carbo n had chan ge d to carbon diox ide. The content was finall y cool ed and transfe r red qu anti tativel y int o a University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 32 100ml volum etric flask using dist il led water. Th e solut ion was later bro ught up to the 100ml mark of th e volu metric flask . Besides, 2 blank digests of the sa me amount s of rea gents (H 2 S O 4 and H 2 O 2 ) were prep ared and all data against mean blank value was corre cted. Th e cal cium and zi n c values in the mush rooms were determi ne d using Atomi c Absorpti on Spectropho t ometer (AAS ) . For p ho sphorus, its colour in t he sampl e was developed and read with Pharo 300 Spectrophoto meter at a wavelen gth o f 712 n m . 3.3 .7.2 Colou r Developm en t of Phosph oru s 3.3 .7.2.1 Preparat ion of the Solution s One hundred and fort y mill il itres (140 m l ) of concentrated H 2 S O 4 was carefull y added to 500 ml of dist il led water and the s olut ion was all owed to cool. 12 g of Ammoni um Mol ybdate was diss olved in 150ml of dist il led water . 0.2908 g of Ant im on y Potassium Tartrate was also diss olv ed in 100ml of dist i ll ed water. All the solut ions were car efull y added to geth er and mad e up to 2 litres to obtain a stock solut ion. 1.056 g of L- Ascorbi c Acid was wei ghe d, diss o lved in the stock solution and made up to 200 ml using the stock solut ion. 0.878 g of Potassium Dih yd r o gen Ort hophosphate was diss olved in 1 litre dist il led water. The stoc k solut ion (Pot assi um Dih ydro gen Orthophos phat e solut ion ) was used to prepare stand ards for cali brati on of Pharo 300 Spectrophotom eter. For cali brati on, 25 ml of the stock solut ion was di lut ed to 1 litre. Ever y 1ml of thi s solut ion pipetted contain ed 5µ g P ; 2ml contained 10µ g P; 3ml contained 15µ g P; etc. A graph of concentr ati on was plott e d against absorban ce to fi nish the cali brati on proc e dures. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 33 3.3 .7 .2 .2 Procedu re for Colou r Developm en t and Phosph oru s Determ inati on Thirt y mill il it res (30 m l ) of dist il led water was added to 1ml of pipetted sampl e solut ion or digested sampl e solut ion . A drop of P -nit rophe nol and one or few drops of amm onium solut ion (the drops are dependent on the conc ent rati on of the phosphorus in the sampl e) was add ed to turn the co lour yell ow. 8 ml of L- A scorbic Acid was added to the solut ion and at least 10 minutes (but not more than 30 mi nutes) was all owed fo r th e colour to turn blue. The volum e was made up to the 50 ml mark with dist il led water and read on the Sp ectrophotom eter at 71 2 wavelen gths . 3.3 .7.3 Determ in ation of Calcium and Zin c C a lcium and Zin c wer e determi ned usin g a Perkin Elmer Anal yst 400 Atomi c Absorpti on Spectrophotom eter (AA S ) at the Ecolo gic al Lab orat or y, Depa rtment of Geo graph y and Resource Department, Universit y of Gh ana, Le gon. The inst rument was cali brated with known standards. Standa rd sto ck solut ions of 100 0mg/ L (1000 ppm) were used. From the stock solut ion of each element, working standa rd solut i ons of 0.4ppm, 1ppm and 2p pm were used to plot a graph of concent rati on aga inst absorbanc e . After cali brati on, the solut ion result ing from the digesti on of the sampl es described above was sucked int o the flame of the atom ic abso rptio n apparatus . Th e co ncen trati on of th e metals (the unknown) to be anal yz ed in the mush rooms was measur ed at a specific wavel en gth in the AAS . The specifi cati on readin gs of Atomi c Absorpti o n Spectrophotom eter were calculat ed using the fo rmulae below : 0 0 e . 100 1000 1000 AAS R d VExtZn or Ca Wt                   University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 34 0 0 6 e 100 10 Spec R d VExtP Wt Aliquot                VEx t = Volum e of ex tract i.e. the vol. of soluti on ex tracted from 2g of ash sample. Aliquot = Part of the volume used for determi nati on of minerals in the sam ple AAS Red = Atomi c Abs orption Spectrophotom eter Readin g Spec Readin g = Spect rop hotom eter Readin g Wt = Weight of ash take n 3.4 Consumer Evalua tio n S ensor y prop erties for the four dried mush rooms were evaluated b y 50 untrained paneli sts f rom the Kp ele z o comm unit y. Product evaluation was done to ob tain subj ecti ve data (how well the produ ct is likel y to be accept ed ) from the comm unit y. The paneli sts observed t he mush rooms displ a ye d and rated them based on appear anc e (colour, siz e, shap e and surfac e tex ture), odour/a roma, taste, flavour and tex ture using the questi onnaire provi de d to them (Appendix 8). S co re sheets were prese nted to each participant and the par ameters for t he four sampl es were reco rded u sin g tabl e of scorin g (s ee App end ix 9). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 35 CHAPTER FOUR 4 .0 RESULTS 4.1 Farmer s ’ metho ds of harves ti ng wil d mus hroo m, postha rv est ma na g ement and way s of reducing pos tha rv es t los s es of wil d mus hro o ms The questi onnair e was admi nist ered to mush roo m farme rs in the Kpel ez o comm unit y in the Volta Re gion to obt ain baseli ne info rmati on on farmers’ method of harvesti n g wild mush rooms, post harvest mana gement and wa ys of redu cin g post harv est loss es of wild mush rooms . The data obt ained from the surv e y ar e shown below. 4.1.1 Gen eral backgrou n d of wil d m ush room coll ectors Greate r number of wild mush rooms coll ectors in the Kpelez o comm unit y in th e Vol ta Region were males (54 %) and (46%) we re fem ales (Tabl e 4. 1). Their main occupati on were farmin g (54%), st udents (26%), artisans (12%), trade rs (6%) and anim al rear ers (2%). For s econd ar y oc cupati on , 76% are in to wild mush rooms harv e sti ng, 8% rear anim al s and harvest wild mush room, 6% are pett y tr aders , anothe r 6% refine palm oil , 2% are int o se curit y and 2% weav e basket s (T able 4. 1). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 36 Table 4. 1: Demo gr aphic chara cterist ics Characte ristics Category Perc en tage val u e (%) S ex Female 46.0 Male 54.0 Main occupati on Farmin g 54.0 Student s 26.0 Arti san s , 12.0 Animal rearin g 2.0 Business/ tradin g 6.0 Secondar y oc cupati on Pett y tradin g 6.0 Harvesti n g wild mushr oom 76.0 Palm oil refiner y 6.0 Animal rearin g & harv esti ng mush room 8.0 Securit y 2.0 Basket weavin g 2.0 4.1.2 Method of harvesti n g wil d mu sh room S ix t y-six percent (66% ) of mushroom farme rs har ves t wil d mushrooms when the veil was not opened, 32% harvest when the veil was about to open and 2% harvest when the veil was opened. Ninet y per cent (90%) of farmers harvest mush rooms in the morning and 10% harv est in the afte rn oon. Eight y-sev en pe rce nt (87%) ha rvest mush ro oms by pull ing them with hand and 14 % b y diggin g around th e m with cutl ass befor e pu ll ing them with hands (Table 4. 2 ). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 37 Table 4. 2: Harv esti ng of wild mush rooms Characte ristics Category Percen tage val u e (% ) Id eal sta ge for When the veil has not open 66.0 harvesti n g When the veil is about to open 32.0 When the veil has open 2.0 Id eal tim e for Earl y in the morning 90.0 harvesti n g Afternoon 10.0 How mush r ooms Pull ing them with hands 86.0 are ha rvested Diggin g around them with cutlass & pull ing 14. 0 Amount of mushroom 2.0 kg 2.0 coll ected per da y 3.0 kg 30.0 4.0 kg 26.0 5.5 kg or mor e 42.0 4.1.3 Posth arvest m an agem en t of wild mu shroom Fort y-six percent (46% ) of farme rs kept harv este d wild mush rooms in open bowl s from the farm to their houses. Thirt y-four pe rc ent (34%) kept them in covered bowl , 12% in tied sacks and 8% tied them togethe r and held t hem with hand s. None of the farme rs pretre at ed mush rooms before sale. All farme rs pa cka ge d fresh mush rooms by t yin g them int o bunches with thread s and displa y e d them at t he ro adside . Fresh mush r ooms that were not sold during the da y were tr eated dif fer entl y by farmers. Fift y-two pe rcent ( 52% ) of the farmers bak ed and sun dried fresh mush rooms that were unsol d. Thirt y-two per cent (32%) of them dip mush rooms in salt solutio n before dr yin g. Fu rthermor e , 12% of them grilled the mush rooms while 2% sun dried the m. Two perc ent (2%) of the farm ers steam ed the unsold mus hrooms (Table 4. 3). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 38 Table 4. 3: Postharvest ha ndli ng of wild mush room s Charac te ristics Category Percen tage valu e (%) Mushroom handli ng Kept in an open bowl 46.0 after harvest Kept in a bowl and co vered 34.0 Tied with thread 8.0 Tied and kept in a sac k 12.0 Handli ng of mushroom Bakin g and sun d r yin g them 52.0 when unsol d Dipping in salt soln. & dr yin g them 32.0 Gril li ng them 16.0 Volume of mush room 1.0 kg 6.0 sold dail y 2.0 kg 24.0 3.0 kg 42.0 4.0 kg 24.0 5.0 kg or mor e 4.0 Major causes o f loss Pest attack 98.0 in mushroom Disease att a ck 2.0 Reducti on of cap/ Holding stalk and gent l y pull ing 10.0 stalk loss Diggin g soil around an d pull ing them 37.0 Proper hand li n g mush room 22.0 Handli ng with care an d t yin g them 31.0 Wa ys to mini mi z e loss Gril li ng and su n dr yin g 30.0 in mushroom harvested Keepin g in refr i ger ator 6.0 Bakin g and sun d r yin g 46.0 Soakin g in salt soln. & sun dr yin g 10.0 Dipp ing in brine soln. & sun dr yin g 8.0 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 39 4.1.4 Ways of redu cin g post h arvest losses of wil d mu sh room s It was obse rved that coll ectors/fa rmers sold onl y about 60% of mush room s coll ected per da y (Table 4.3). 98% of post harvest loss es of wil d mush rooms were observed to be caused b y pest s and th e remaining 2 % b y disea ses . 37% of the farmers suggested th at post harvest loss es of m ushroom can be minim iz ed by di gging the so il around the mush rooms before pul li ng them with hands. 31 % of the farme rs we re of the view th at loss es can be minim iz ed by handli ng mush roo ms with care and t yin g them up with threads . 22% of farme rs we re of the opi nion that proper handli ng of m ushrooms after harvesti n g can reduce lo sses . However, 10 % of the farme rs suggested ho ldi ng the stalk and gentl y pull in g the mushrooms to prevent loss es (Table 4.3 ). 4 .2 Proxima te compo si ti o n ana ly sis The fresh mushroom sa mpl es for the two vari eti es afte r washin g wer e subj ected to prox im ate compos it ion ana l ysis . The anal ysis was done to asc ertain the nutrit ional compos it ion prior to processi ng. Th e values fo r this anal ysis was displ a yed in Table 4. 4 . Termitomyces spp had highe r compos it ions of protein (2.095%), carboh ydrate (8.304% ) and fat (8.124%) than th e same nutrient values of 0.858%, 7.358% and 6.333% obtained for Pleurotus ostreatus . The ash (0.603%) and ener g y (114.712 Kcal.) values wer e also higher in Termitomyces spp than 0.584 % and 89.861 Kcal. record ed for Pleurotus ostreatus . Contrar y, Pleurotus ostreatus had hi gh er moi sture (84.867% ) and phosphorus (0.460%) valu es than 80. 874% and 0.346% obtain ed for Termitomyces spp. Howeve r, the two varieti es had sim il ar ascorbic acid values (0.015mg/m l). Pleurotus ostreatus had some amount of calcium (0.003%) whil st Termitomyces sp p had none (T ab le 4. 4 ). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 40 Table 4. 4 : Prox im ate compos it ion of cult iva ted and wild fresh mush rooms (per 100 g sampl e ) Mushroom species Moistu re Protein Carbo - h yd rate Fat Ascorb ic acid (mg/ ml) Zin c Calciu m Phos - p h oru s Ash Energy (Kcal.) Termitomyces species 80.874 2.095 8.304 8.12 4 0.015 0.038 ND 0.346 0.603 114.712 Pleurotus ostreatus 84.867 0.858 7.358 6.3 3 3 0.015 0.037 0.003 0.46 0 0.584 89. 861 LSD (5%) 0.0264 0.0464 0.2749 0.0442 NS NS NS 0.0154 0.0019 0.01248 ND ± Not Detected NS ± Not Significant Values are expressed on wet weight basis University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 41 Figu re 4. 1: Baked & Dried O yster Mushroom Figu re 4. 2: Sun Dried Termitomyces spp Figu re 4. 3: Mud Oven Dried T. spp Figu re 4. 4: Blanch ed & Dried T. spp The appe aran ces of th e dried mushroom sampl es are displ a yed in Fi gures 4.1 – 4.4. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 42 P rox im ate compos iti on anal ysis on the dried s ampl es was carri ed out and the result s are shown in Table 4. 5 . There wer e signific ant differen ce s (p < 0.05) among all the treatm ents. Sun dried Termitomyces spp had the highest moi sture value (16.034%) while baked and sun dried oys ter mush room had th e lowest (3.522%). The protein value (20.804%) was si gnifica n tl y hi gh er in mud oven dried Termitomyces spp and lowest (1.733%) in blanched an d sun dried oyst er mush r oom. For carboh yd rate, b aked and sun dried Termitomyces spp had the highest value (73.022%) whil e baked and sun dried oyster mush room had the lowest (57.480%). A different tr end was obse rved in the fat content of the two vari eti es. Baked and sun dried oyst er mush room record ed the hig h est fat valu e (12.646 %) wh il e b lanched and sun dr ied o yster mush roo m had the low est (0.045%). Mud oven dried oyste r mushroom had the highest as co rb ic acid value (0.546mg/m l) while blanched and sun dried oyst er mush room had the lowest (0.063mg/ ml ). It was ob served that mud oven dried oyste r mush room had the high est zinc value of 0.054% whil e b lanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp had the low est value of 0.033%. Regard ing calcium, blanch ed an d sun dried Termitomyces spp had the highest (0.037% ) while mud oven dried oyster mush room had the lowest (0.004%). Howeve r, calcium w as not detected in sun dried Termitomyces spp; mud oven dried Termitomyces spp; b ake d and sun dried oyster mush room ; and blanched and sun dried oyster mush room (Tabl e 4. 5). Phosphorus value was high er in mud oven dried Termitomyces spp (0.80 6mg/ g) and lowest in blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp (0.257mg/ g). The ash value was found to be highe r in blanched and su n dried oyster mu shroom (15.092%) and lowest in baked and sun dried Termitomyces spp (3.660%). The ener g y values ran ge d from 282.253 Kcal to 402.646 Kcal. Bl anched and sun dried oyster mush room had th e lowest while b ak ed an d sun dried o yst er mush room had the highest (T able 4. 5). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 43 Table 4. 5 : Prox im ate compos it ion of processed mush rooms (per 100 g sa mpl e) Sample Treat - men t Moistu re Protein Car bo - h yd rate Fat Ascorb ic acid(mg/ ml) Zin c Calciu m Phos - p h oru s Ash Energy (Kcal.) Termito - m yc es Sun dried 16.034 11.256 64.591 3.597 0.168 0.044 ND 0.498 4.522 335.761 Baked & dried 13.371 5.567 73.022 4.380 0.126 0.042 0.008 0.436 3.660 353.776 Blanch e d & dried 11.942 6.219 58.134 9.628 0.084 0.033 0.037 0.257 14.077 344.028 Mud oven dried 12.324 20.804 57.890 4.566 0.231 0.041 ND 0.806 4.416 355.870 Oyste r mush room Sun dried 12.656 19.839 57.716 4.582 0.105 0.041 0.006 0.533 5.207 351.458 Baked & dried 3.522 14.728 57.480 12.646 0.126 0.039 ND 0.721 4.580 402.646 Blanch ed & dried 14.401 1.733 68.729 0.045 0.063 0.042 ND 0.392 15.092 282.253 Mud oven dried 11.414 18.306 60.102 4.457 0.546 0.054 0.004 0.410 5.721 353.745 LS D (5 %) 0.0044 0.001 7 0.0018 0.0017 0.0017 0.0017 0.0009 0.0017 0.0017 0.0017 Values are expressed on dry weight basis ND ± Not Detected University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 44 The sampl es were pa cka ged in rubbe r ba gs and plastic containers afte r dr yi n g and kept in a refri ge rator (4 o C ) an d room temperature (3 0 – 33 o C ) for 10 days . Prox im ate compos it ion anal ysis was carried out at 10 days int ervals to as certa in chan ges in nutrition al compos it ion. The result s ar e shown in tables 4. 6 and 4. 7 . There were si gnific ant differen ces (p < 0.05 ) am ong all the treatm ents . Howeve r, after 10 days of stora ge, mud oven dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubb er ba g had the high est moi sture conten t (2.825%) while blanc hed and sun dried oyst er mush room packa ged in rubb er ba g had the least (0.599% ). Mud oven dried o yster mush room packa ged in plastic cont ainer had the hi ghest pe r centa ge protein (23.526 %) compa red to all the treatm ents while baked and sun dried Termitomyces spp pack a ged in rubber bag had the le ast (7.873% ). Baked and sun dried Termitomyces spp pack a ged in rubber ba g had the hi gh est amoun t of carboh ydr ate (80.7 61%) while b lanch ed and sun dried Termitomyces spp pa cka ged in plastic container had the lowest (54.453 %). Sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g had the highest amount of fat (7.620%) while blanched and sun dried oyster mush room packa ged in plastic container had the lowest amount of fat (0.100%). Mud oven dried o yste r mush room packa ged in plastic container had the hi ghest ascorbic acid value ( 0.430m g/m l) while blan ched and su n dried o yste r mush room packa ged in rubber bag had the lowest ascorbic ac id valu e (0.0 60mg/m l). Mud oven dried Termitomyces sp p pack a ged in plastic containe r; bak ed and s un dried o yste r mush room packa ged in rubber ba g; mud oven dri ed o yster mush room pa c kaged in rubbe r bag; baked and sun dried oyst er mush room pack a ged in plastic containe r ; and mud oven dried o yster mush room packa ged in p lastic contai ner had the high est but sim il ar amount of zinc (0.003%) while baked and sun d ried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber bag; University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 45 blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubb er ba g; bak e d and sun dried Termitomyces spp pac kaged in plastic cont ainer ; and blan ched and sun dried Termitomyces spp pack a ged in plastic container had the low est but simi lar amount of zinc (0.001%). Blanched and sun dried oyster mush r oom packa ged in rubb e r bag and mud oven dried o yster mush r oom packa g ed in rubb er bag had the hi ghest but s im il ar calcium values (0.006%) while bl anched and sun dried Termitomyces spp pack a ged in rubber ba g; blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic containe r ; and sun drie d oyster mush room pa cka ged in plastic container ha d the lowest but sim il ar calcium values (0.001%). Baked and su n dried oyster mush roo m pac ka ged in plastic container had the highest amount of pho sphorus (0.973m g/g) whil e blanched and sun dried o yste r mush room packa ged in rubber ba g had th e lowes t (0.221mg/ g). Blanch ed and sun dried Termitomyces spp pack a ged in plastic containe r had the highes t ash va lue (24.862%) while sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g had th e lowest (7.555%). Sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g had the hi gh est amount of ener g y (405.186 Kcal) while bl a nched and sun dried Termitomyces spp pack a ged in rubber ba g had the lowest amount of ener g y (263.539 Kcal ) (Table 4. 6 ). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 46 Table 4.6 : Prox im ate compos it ion of processed mush rooms stored at 4 o C in rubber ba gs and pl asti c containers after 10 days (per 100 g sampl e) Sample Pack - agin g Treat - men t Mois - ture Protein Carbo - h yd rate Fat Ascorb ic acid (mg/ ml) Zin c Cal - ciu m Phos - p h oru s (mg/g) Ash Energy (Kcal.) Termito - m yc es Rubber bag Sun dried 0.696 21.047 63.082 7.620 0.150 0.002 0.003 0.294 7.555 405.186 Baked & dried 2.549 7.873 80.761 0.513 0.123 0.001 0.002 0.928 8.304 359.153 Blanch ed & dried 4.459 15.913 57.573 0.195 0.090 0.001 0.001 0.415 21.860 263.539 Mud oven dried 2.825 16.391 71.446 1.266 0.221 0.002 0.002 0.414 8.072 362.742 Plastic container Sun dried 4.542 23.227 60.979 0.200 0. 153 0.002 0.002 0.479 11.052 338.624 Baked & dried 4.034 21.338 61.967 3.194 0.120 0.001 0.002 0.285 9.467 361.966 Blanch ed & dried 1.068 18.735 54.453 0.882 0.082 0.001 0.001 0.561 24.862 300.690 Mud oven dried 1.945 22.516 66.399 0.210 0.232 0.003 0.002 0.704 8.930 357.550 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 47 O yste r mush room Rubber bag Sun dried 1.944 16.572 73.592 0.324 0.100 0.002 0.002 0.545 7.568 363.572 Baked & dried 1.150 16.680 72.211 1.269 0.120 0.003 0.002 0.733 8.690 366.985 Blanch ed & dried 0.599 14.612 65 .181 1.081 0.060 0.002 0.006 0.221 18.527 328.901 Mud oven dried 1.703 16.887 70.630 1.249 0.423 0.003 0.006 0.377 9.531 361.309 Plastic container Sun dried 1.445 19.173 70.258 0.530 0.110 0.002 0.001 0.538 8.594 362.494 Baked & dried 1.060 17. 783 73.237 0.214 0.122 0.003 0.002 0.973 7.706 366.006 Blanch ed & dried 1.435 10.671 68.936 0.100 0.062 0.002 0.002 0.257 18.858 319.328 Mud oven dried 1.010 23.526 65.328 0.417 0.430 0.003 0.002 0.518 9.719 359.169 LSD(5 %) 0.0019 0.0020 0.003 3 0.0020 0.0009 0.0004 0.0004 0.0018 0.0043 0.0042 Values are expressed on dry weight basis University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 48 Table 4. 7 shows the resu lt s of processed mush roo ms stored at 30 – 33 o C i n rubber ba gs and plastic containe rs af ter 10 da ys. Di ffe rent nu trient values were obs er ved amon g the sampl es anal yz ed. Blan ched and sun dried oys ter mush room pa cka ged in plastic container had the hi ghe st moi sture content (5.633%) while blanch ed and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g had t he lowest (0.755% ). Th e p rotein value (23.234%) was si gnifica ntl y hi gh er in mud oven dried oyster mush roo m packa ged in plasti c containe r and lowest (10.432% ) in baked and sun dried Termitomyces spp p acka ged in rubber ba g. It was observ ed that baked and sun dri ed Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g had the highest carboh ydrate value (78.442 %) while blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic container had the low est (50.492%). The fat content (7.232 %) was si gnificantl y higher in sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g and lowest (0.112 %) in blanched and sun dried o ys ter mush roo m packa ged in plastic con tainer . The ascorbic aci d values ran ged from 0.065mg/m l for blanched and sun dried oys ter mush room p a cka ge d in plastic container to 0.549mg/m l for mud ov en dried o yster mush r oom packa ged i n rubber ba g. Baked and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g; blan ched and sun dri ed Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g ; and blanched and sun dried Termitomyces sp p packa ged in plastic container had the lowest zinc values (0.0 01%) while the rest wer e hi gh in zinc values (0.003% ). Mud oven dried Termitomyces spp pack a ged in ru bber ba g had significantl y hi gher calci um content (0.007%) than the lowest value (0.0 01%) obtained for blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubbe r ba g; blanched and su n dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic container; sun dried o ys ter mush room packa ged in rubber bag; baked and sun dried oys ter mush room packa ged in rubber bag ; University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 49 and blanched and sun dr ied oyster mush ro om pa cka ged in plastic contai ner. The result obtained showed th at su n dried o yster mush room packa ged in rubb er ba g had the hi ghest amount of phosphorus (0.821mg/ g) while blan ched and sun dried o ys ter mush room packa ged in plastic container had the lowest (0 .204mg/ g). Ther e were different values obtained for the ash co ntent in the processed mush rooms. Blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp pack aged in plastic cont ain er had signific antl y higher ash value (26.053%) compa red to the lowest value (6.001%) obtained for sun dried oyster mush room packa ged in ru bber ba g. Sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubbe r ba g had the highest ener g y value (405.360 Kcal) while blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in plasti c container had the low est (281.907 Kcal) (Table 4. 7 ). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 50 Table 4.7 : Prox imate compos it ion of processed mush rooms stored at 30 -33 o C in rubber bags and plastic containers afte r 10 days (per 100g sampl e) Sample Pack - agin g Treat - men t Mois - ture Protein Carbo - h yd rate Fat Ascorb ic acid (mg/ ml) Zin c Cal - ciu m Phos - p h oru s (mg/g) Ash Energy (Kcal.) Termi - tom yces Rubb er bag Sun dried 0.843 20.530 64.538 7.232 0.171 0.002 0.003 0.978 6.857 405.360 Baked & sun 3.441 10.432 78.442 0.502 0.115 0.001 0.002 0.225 7.183 360.014 Blanch ed & dried 0.755 15.351 63.462 0.160 0.092 0.001 0.001 0.461 20.272 316.692 Mud oven dried 3.354 16.200 72.139 1.254 0.240 0.002 0.007 0.494 7.053 364.642 Plastic container Sun dried 2.369 20.234 71.352 0.156 0.175 0.002 0.004 0.453 5.889 367.748 Baked & dr ied 5.038 20.891 64.467 3.011 0.120 0.002 0.002 0.710 6.593 368.531 Blanch ed & dried 4.449 18.223 50.492 0.783 0.090 0.001 0.001 0.436 26.053 281.907 Mud oven dried 3.265 21.544 67.460 0.201 0.235 0.002 0.002 0.740 7.530 357.825 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 51 O yste r mush room Rub ber bag Sun dried 4.534 16.001 73.162 0.302 0.110 0.003 0.001 0.821 6.001 359.370 Baked & dried 3.814 16.561 71.187 1.245 0.128 0.003 0.001 0.302 7.193 362.197 Blanch ed & dried 5.277 14.576 61.317 1.054 0.068 0.002 0.002 0.373 17.776 313.058 Mud oven dried 4.478 16.445 69.077 1.121 0.549 0.003 0.003 0.369 8.879 352.177 Plastic container Sun dried 3.199 19.335 71.362 0.456 0.113 0.003 0.003 0.888 5.648 366.892 Baked & dried 0.955 18.543 73.332 0.210 0.124 0.002 0.003 0.617 6.960 369. 390 Blanch ed & dried 5.633 11.012 65.189 0.112 0.065 0.002 0.001 0.204 18.054 305.812 Mud oven dried 5.315 23.234 62.890 0.402 0.544 0.002 0.003 0.230 8.159 348.114 LSD (5 %) 0.0079 0.0699 0.0582 0.0070 0.0076 0.0006 0.0003 0.0070 0.0081 2.4460 Values are expressed on dry weight basis University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 52 The anal ysis was repe ate d after 20 da ys of stor a ge and the result s are shown in tables 4. 8 and 4. 9 . There were si gnific ant differ ences (p < 0.05) amo ng all the tre atm ents of the mush rooms which were sto r ed at 4 o C in rubber ba gs and plastic containers afte r 20 da ys . It was observed th at sun dri ed Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic containe r had the hi gh est moi sture value (4.678 %) while sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g had the lowest (0.540% ). For mud oven dried o yster mush room packa ged in plastic container , protein value (23.522% ) was signific antl y hi gh er than the lowest va lue (10.133%) obtained for bak ed and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g. The carboh ydr ate (77.934%) v alue was hi ghest in b aked and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g and lowest (53.891% ) in blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in pl asti c co ntainer . The fat cont ent (7.606%) was hi ghe st in sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubb er ba g as co mpared to the low est value (0.154 %) obtained for sun dried Termitomyces spp pack a ged in plastic container. It was observed that mud oven dried o yster mush room pa cka ge d in plastic cont ainer had the hi gh est amount of asco rbic acid (0.550mg/m l) while bla nched and sun dried o ys ter mush room packa ged in plastic co ntainer had th e lowest (0.064mg/m l). Bak ed and sun dried Termitomyces spp pack aged in rubb er ba g; ba ked and sun dri ed Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic conta iner; and blanched and sun dr ied Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic container had the lowe s t zinc values (0.0 01%) while the rest wer e hi gh in zinc values (0.003% ). The cal cium value (0.007 %) wa s signific antl y hi gh er in m ud oven dried oyster mush room p acka ged in rubb er ba g while the rest were low in calcium values (0.001%). Baked and su n dried oyster mush roo m packa ged in plastic container had the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 53 highest phosphorus value (0.978m g/g) while the lowest value (0.231m g/ g) was obse rved in blanched and sun dri ed oyste r mush r oom pa cka ged in rubbe r ba g. The ash values varied from the sampl es anal yz ed. Blanch ed and s un dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic container reco rde d the high est ash valu e (25.387%) while baked and sun dried oyster mush room packa ged in plastic container had the lowest (8.021 %). The ener g y value (402.302 Kcal) wa s observed to be hi gh est in sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g and lowes t (294.756 Kcal) in blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber b a g (Table 4. 8). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 54 Table 4.8 : Prox im ate compos it ion of processed mush rooms st ored at 4 o C in rubber ba gs and pl asti c containers after 20 days (per 100 g sampl e) Sample Pack - agin g Treat - men t Mois - ture Protein Carbo - h yd rate Fat Ascorb ic acid (mg/ ml) Zin c Cal - ciu m Phos - p h oru s (mg/g) Ash Energy (Kcal.) Termito - m yc es Rubber bag Sun drie d 0.540 21.112 62.350 7.606 0.172 0.002 0.003 0.298 8.392 402.302 Baked & dried 2.392 10.133 77.934 0.520 0.127 0.001 0.002 0.943 9.021 356.948 Blanch ed & dried 4.545 15.811 57.455 0.188 0.086 0.002 0.001 0.432 22.001 294.756 Mud oven dried 2. 734 17.102 68.738 1.324 0.320 0.003 0.003 0.441 10.102 355.276 Plastic container Sun dried 4.678 23.201 60.466 0.154 0.175 0.002 0.002 0.488 11.501 336.054 Baked & dried 4.100 21.410 61.083 3.182 0.128 0.001 0.002 0.287 10.225 358.610 Blanch ed & dr ied 1.002 18.862 53.891 0.858 0.085 0.001 0.001 0.570 25.387 298.734 Mud oven dried 1.924 23.101 64.792 0.201 0.300 0.003 0.002 0.732 9.982 353.381 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 55 O yste r mush room Rubber bag Sun dried 2.005 16.675 70.048 0.385 0.122 0.003 0.002 0.554 10.887 350.357 Baked & dried 1.011 16.708 72.419 1.639 0.130 0.003 0.002 0.735 8.223 371.259 Blanch ed & dried 0.601 14.504 64.535 1.326 0.065 0.002 0.006 0.231 19.034 328.090 Mud oven dried 1.733 16.913 69.587 1.530 0.548 0.003 0.007 0.386 10.237 359.770 Pla sti c container Sun dried 1.454 19.210 68.001 0.561 0.124 0.002 0.001 0.547 10.774 353.893 Baked & dried 1.055 17.507 73.114 0.303 0.129 0.003 0.002 0.978 8.021 365.211 Blanch ed & dried 1.470 10.611 68.687 0.231 0.064 0.002 0.002 0.265 19.001 319.27 1 Mud oven dried 1.023 23.522 64.924 0.508 0.550 0.003 0.002 0.521 10.023 358.356 LSD (5 %) 0.0527 0.0627 0.0079 0.0055 0.0077 0.0012 0.0015 0.0070 0.0056 0.0299 Values are expressed on dry weight basis University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 56 Table 4. 9 shows th e result s of proc essed mushroo ms stored at 30 -33 o C in rubber bags and plastic containers after 20 days . Ther e were si gnificant differ ence s (p < 0. 05) among all the treatm ents stored . It was observed that ba ked and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic container had the hi ghest m oist ure value (6.101%) while blanche d and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in ru bber ba g had th e lowest (0.761%). The p rotein value (23.449%) was found to be high es t in m ud oven dried o ys ter mush room packa ged in plastic container while bak ed and s un dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g had the lowe st (9.987%). The an al ysi s revea led di ffe rent ca rb oh ydr ate values of the stored sampl es. Ba ked and sun dried Termitomyces spp pa cka ged in rubber bag had the high est ca rboh ydrat e value (75.964 %) while blanched and sun dri ed Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic container had the lowest (50.655%). The fat valu es ran ged from 0.120% to 8.111%. Sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber ba g ha d the high est while blanched and sun dried oyste r mush room packa ged in plastic co ntainer had the lowest . The ascorbi c aci d value (0.560 m g/m l) was found to be hi ghest in m ud oven dri ed oyster mush room pa cka ged in rubber ba g while blanched and sun dried o ys ter mush room packa ged in plastic cont ainer had th e lowest (0.0 68mg/m l). Sun dried Termitomyces spp packa g ed in plastic container; mud oven dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic container; sun dried o yster mush room pa cka ge d in rubber ba g; baked and sun dried oyster mush room pa cka ged in rubber ba g; mu d oven dried o yster mush roo m packa ged in rubber ba g; and sun drie d oyster mush room pa ck aged in plastic container had the highest but sim il ar amount of zinc (0.003%). Conv ersel y, baked and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubbe r ba g; blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp pack aged in rubb er University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 57 bag; and blanch ed and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic container had th e lowest but simil ar zinc values (0.001%). Diff er ent trends were observ e d for calcium values in the stored sam ples. Mud oven dried Termitomyces spp packa ge d in rubber ba g had the hi gh est cal cium value (0.007 %) while bl anched and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubbe r ba g; blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp pack aged in plastic container; bak ed and su n dried oyste r mush roo m packa ged in rubb er bag; and bl anched and sun dried o yste r mush room packa ged in plas ti c container had the low est but sim il ar calcium values (0.001% ). The phosphorus value (0.988mg/ g) was hi gh e st in sun dried Termitomyces spp pack aged in rubber ba g whil e blanched and sun dried oyste r mush room packa ged in plastic container had the l owest (0.223mg/ g). It was observed that b lanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic contain er had the high est ash value (25.031%) wh il e baked and sun dried oyster mush room pack aged in plastic container had the lowest (7.879%). The ener g y value (402.659 Kcal) was found to be highest in sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in rubber bag while blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp packa ged in plastic co ntainer had the low est (286.258 Kcal) (Table 4. 9). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 58 Table 4.9 : Prox im ate co mpos it ion of processed mush rooms stored at 30 - 33 o C in rubber ba gs and plastic containers afte r 20 da ys (p er 100 g sampl e) Sample Pack - agin g Treat - men t Mois - ture Protein Carbo - h yd rate Fat Asco rb ic acid (mg/ ml) Zin c Cal - ciu m Phos - p h oru s (mg/g) Ash Energy (Kcal.) Termito - m yc es Rubber bag Sun dried 0.840 20.978 61.437 8.111 0.165 0.002 0.003 0.988 8.634 402.659 Baked & dried 3.501 9.987 75.964 0.560 0.123 0.001 0.002 0.235 9.988 348.844 B lanch ed & dried 0.761 16.102 60.856 0.199 0.094 0.001 0.001 0.476 22.082 309.623 Mud oven dried 3.631 16.221 69.025 1.332 0.260 0.002 0.007 0.497 9.791 352.972 Plastic container Sun dried 2.453 23.001 62.342 0.201 0.169 0.003 0.004 0.467 12.003 343.18 1 Baked & dried 6.101 21.079 59.620 3.189 0.122 0.002 0.002 0.721 10.011 351.497 Blanch ed & dried 4.652 18.664 50.655 0.998 0.098 0.001 0.001 0.445 25.031 286.258 Mud oven dried 3.450 22.603 64.639 0.303 0.262 0.003 0.003 0.756 9.005 351.695 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 59 O yste r mush room Rubber bag Sun dried 5.022 16.557 69.671 0.430 0.153 0.003 0.002 0.843 8.320 348.782 Baked & dried 3.821 16.655 68.584 1.937 0.140 0.003 0.001 0.311 9.003 358.389 Blanch ed & dried 5.242 14.501 56.908 1.139 0.070 0.002 0.002 0.377 1 9.210 295.887 Mud oven dried 4.403 16.703 67.641 1.252 0.560 0.003 0.003 0.377 10.001 348.644 Plastic container Sun dried 3.190 19.202 67.906 0.651 0.150 0.003 0.003 0.898 9.051 354.291 Baked & dried 0.961 17.720 73.213 0.227 0.138 0.002 0.003 0. 623 7.879 365.775 Blanch ed & dried 5.703 10.551 64.601 0.120 0.068 0.002 0.001 0.223 19.025 301.688 Mud oven dried 5.302 23.449 60.389 0.539 0.520 0.002 0.003 0.234 10.321 340.203 LSD (5 %) 0.0053 0.0155 0.0075 0.0031 0.0024 0.0004 0.0005 0.0012 0.0019 0.0021 Values are expressed on dry weight basis University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 60 Tables 4. 10 and 4. 11 s how the result s of the sensor y evaluation co nducted b y 50 untrained paneli sts on th e accept abil it y of fou r processed mush room sam ples fr om two varieti es of mush roo ms in the Kpelez o comm unit y. The paneli sts pref er red sun dried oyster mush room app ear ance and sco red it hi gh est in appe aran ce, t ex ture, siz e , aroma while blanched and sun d ried o yst er mushroom wa s scored low est in appea r ance, siz e and aroma. The paneli sts preferr ed the taste of blanch ed and sun dried oyster mush room and scored it highest but dislike d the texture of mud oven dried, and the taste and aroma of baked and sun dri ed o yster mush room and sco red them lowest (Table 4. 10) . University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 61 Table 4. 10: Consum er ev aluation of dried O yste r Mushroom Attrib u te Sample Appearan ce Texture Size Taste Aroma Score N o R Score NoR Score NoR Score NoR Score NoR Sun dried 30 20 10 30 15 5 15 10 5 35 12 3 20 12 6 27 13 10 25 16 8 20 20 10 10 6 3 40 8 2 Baked & dried 30 20 1 0 20 13 17 15 10 5 17 15 18 20 12 6 14 18 1 8 25 16 8 21 11 18 10 6 3 14 16 20 Blanch ed & dried 30 20 10 13 16 21 15 10 5 16 14 20 20 12 6 18 2 30 25 16 8 35 10 5 10 6 3 12 18 20 M ud oven dried 30 20 10 23 11 16 15 10 5 14 15 21 20 12 6 18 12 20 25 16 8 22 13 15 10 6 3 21 12 17 NoR = Number of Respo ndent University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 62 From T able 4. 11 , the paneli sts prefer red the m ud oven dried Termitomyces spp and scored it highest in appearan ce, tex ture, siz e, taste and aroma while blanched and sun dried Termitomyces spp was scored lowest in app earan ce, tex ture and siz e . The paneli sts disl iked the taste and aroma of baked and sun dried Termitomyces spp and scored it the lowest (Table 4. 11). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 63 Table 4. 11: Consum er ev aluation of dried Wil d Mushroom Attrib u te Sample Appearan ce Text ure Size Taste Aroma Score NoR Score NoR Score NoR Score NoR Score NoR Sun dried 30 20 10 14 20 16 15 10 5 2 0 1 8 12 20 12 6 18 15 17 25 16 8 21 15 16 10 6 3 20 13 17 Baked & dried 30 20 10 19 20 11 15 10 5 17 13 20 20 12 6 22 14 14 25 16 8 15 17 18 10 6 3 19 11 20 Blanch ed & dried 30 20 10 11 14 25 15 10 5 13 15 22 20 12 6 12 17 21 25 16 8 23 12 15 10 6 3 13 18 19 M ud oven dried 30 20 10 33 14 3 15 10 5 28 12 10 20 12 6 29 13 9 25 16 8 25 10 15 10 6 3 23 11 16 NoR = Number of Respo ndent University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 64 CHAPTER FIVE 5.0 DISCUSSION Kpelez o is predomi nantl y a farmin g comm unit y in the Volta R e gion of Ghana. The majorit y of the farm ers are male with female formi ng the mi norit y. This statis ti cs translated in more mal es enga gin g in wild mush rooms harvesti ng th an fem ales . Gen erall y in Ghanai an tradit ional s ett ings, women en ga ge m ore in hous ehold chor es than men. The majorit y of farme r s harvested mush rooms when the veil s are not opened. The y claimed, mush rooms ha r vested thi s wa y ar e more priz ed and less suscepti ble to dis eases and pests att a ck. Santos h et al . (2014) and Oei (2003) stated th at mush r oom harvested with veil yet to open are more ex pensive than those with opened veil . Wil d mush rooms coll ectors are i gnorant th at continuous ex posure of harvest ed mushroom s to air could lea d to contamination, pests and diseases att ack which will eventuall y result in the deteriorati on of the prod uct. Oei (2003) proposed that fresh mush room should be handled with minim al touch and ex posure otherwise lea d to post harvest contam ination of the product. Mushrooms are harvest ed earl y morning to enable sales to custom ers. Harvesti n g of the mush room was done by holdi n g the stalk and gentl y pull ing it which enabled all the parts of the mush rooms to be harvested int act and preve nt bruise . Oei (2 003) reported that mush rooms shoul d be harvested by gentl y pull ing the m from the soil as bruised mush room hastened spoi lage . Ho weve r, in compacted soil , far mers dug soil around the mush rooms before pull in g them to p revent cap and stalk from breakin g. Mushrooms harvested with broken stalk and cap ar e less priz ed and suscepti ble to microbial attack (Santosh et al . , 2014). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 65 Most farmers beli eved that pretreati n g fresh mu shrooms with water before sale could increas e the ir rate of dete riorati on. T he y ex plained that the mush r ooms abs orb and i f the y are not sold earl y the y deteriorat e. Fresh mush r ooms harvested by far mers we re not packa ged in an y form be fore the y we r e sold to consum er s . Rather the mush rooms were tied with threads and dis pla ye d at the ro adside. This practi ce result ed in m ult ipl e handli ng of the mushroom b y sell ers and bu yers . Oei (200 3) proposed that mush ro oms shoul d be harvested with minim um touch and handli ng otherwise the y ar e easil y contaminated. Mushrooms that are not sold were processed b y farm ers in different wa ys . Baking and sun dr yin g ar e the most comm on processi n g techniques used b y far mers. But the appear anc e of some of t he farmers’ s ampl es sho wed that prop er pro cedu res for bakin g and sun dr yin g were not followed . The hi gh e r pos tharvest los s values of fre sh mushro oms observed could be as a result of improper and un ti mel y harvesti ng as well as mishandli ng, pest and dis ease att a ck of the mush ro oms (Santosh et al ., 2014). The appea ranc es of the processed sampl es showe d changes in colour. This can be due to the different temper ature treatm ents and the pretre atm ent s of the mush room sampl es. The blanched s ampl es at salt concentr ati on of 20 g per 500ml of wate r for 15 minutes before dr yin g showed a dif fer e nt colour as compa red t o the rest of th e pr o cess ed sampl es . For Termitomyces sp p , the ini ti al whit e colour ch an ged to cr eam colour while the Pleurotus ostreatus chan ged from white to brown . The sod ium chloride (salt ) solut ion might have slow ed down the enz ym ati c reacti on in the Termitomyces sp p . Ra i and Arumugan athan (2008) and B yun g (200 4) asse rted that blanchi ng mush rooms in brine solut ion inhi bit enz ymes acti vit y and inacti vate microor ganism s. Some mush room sampl es baked befor e dr yin g and mud oven dr yin g were brown and ma y be due to maill ard reac ti ons (Oei, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 66 2003). Sampl es subj e cte d to mud oven dr yin g at a tempe ratur e of 80 o C for 2 hours showed cream y to bro w n colour than shown by the rest of the process ed s ampl es which ma y be att ributed to enz ym ati c and non -enz ym ati c browning reacti ons (B yun g, 200 4). The ex posure of mush rooms to direct heat bef ore dr yin g unde r the sun reduced the moi sture content in the mush room consi derabl y. Reducti on in moi sture content of the mush room prevents earl y deterior ati on of the product (Oei, 20 03; Rai and Arumuganathan, 2008 ). The protein content of the fresh mush rooms was found to be 0.858% and 2.095% in Pleurotus ostreatus and Termitomyces sp p respec ti vel y (T able 4. 4 ). The protein content of Pleurotus ostreatus (0.858%) was consi de rabl y lowe r than 27.25% obt ained by ot h er authors (Rai and Arumu gan athan, 2008). The pr otein content obtained for Termitomyces sp p was also much low e r than the value of 34.36 % report ed b y Crabb e ( 2 010). Some o f the factors that influen ce protein content in mush room are the compos it ion of the subst rate, siz e of the pil eus, harvesti n g time and the mush room species BernaĞ et al . , 2006). This could ex plain the low level of protein in the fresh mush rooms anal yz ed . Again, the values obtai ned varied be caus e the sampl es were not gro w n under sim il ar co ndit ions . The method s for protein anal ysis use d by the author s ma y va r y as well . The methods of packa gin g and the t ypes of packa gi ng m aterial us ed could influence th e nutrit ional compos it ion of the product. Mat elj an (2014) opin ed that mus hroom pack a ge with caps touching each other and store d at a temperatur e of 4 o C or below contribut e to nutrit ional loss es of the product . For th e two spe cies, the ca rboh ydrat e contents for the sampl es wer e 7.358% and 8.303 % (Table 4. 4 ). The value of carboh yd rate cont ent in Pleurotus ostreatus was quit e lower than value 35.31% record ed by Rai and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 67 Arumuganathan (2008). The fat content fo r Pleurotus ostreatus was 6.333% and that of Termitomyces sp p was 8.124% (Table 4. 4 ). Th es e values wer e consi de ra bl y hi ghe r than 2.75% reco rded b y Rai and Arumu ganathan (2008) and 1.40% b y Crabbe (2010). Carboh yd rate and fat values differ ed becaus e the mush rooms were not grown under sim il ar condit ions. The processi n g method empl oye d also dif fer ed from on e sampl e to th e other. Mshandete and Cuff (2007) opined that the fat content of mushroom varies dependin g upon the cooking method empl o ye d. It could be ar gu ed that since the mush room was not subj ected to much he at the fat content was comp ara bl y hi gher than what has been reporte d by Rai and Arumu gan athan (2008 ) and Crabbe (2010 ). Mushrooms are rich in potassium , phosphorus, zinc, copper and cadmi um (Aré s et al . , 2007). Zinc, calc ium an d phosphorus were some of the nutrients in Pleurotus ostreatus and Termitomyces sp p studi ed. The zinc conten t of Termitomyces sp p and Pleurotus ostreatus were 0.038 % and 0.037% resp ecti vel y. These valu es were comp arati ve l y lowe r than 4.92 mg/ g and 12.9 mg/ g repo rted b y Devi et al . (2014 ) and Ahme d et al . (2013 ), respecti vel y. Th e phosph orus values of Termitomyces spp and Pleurotus ostreatus were 0.460 % and 0.346 %. Th ese valu es were low er th an 239.4mg/ g and 8.0m g/g reported b y Obodai and Apertor gbo r (2009) and Ahmed et al . (2013), respecti vel y. Differ ences in values obtained could be att ributed to the strain typ es and the st ages of developm ent of the mush rooms. Devi et al . (2014) reported that mineral concent rati on in mush rooms can be influenced b y the stra in t yp e, sta ge of the mus hroom, the compos it ion of the gro wth subst rate and the envir onment. The ascorbi c acid was pres en t in lower amount of 0.015mg/m l in both spec ies. The ash content of 0. 603% in Termitomyces sp p and 0.584% in Pleurotus ostreatus was compa rati vel y low er t han 6.12% repo rted b y Crabbe (2010). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 68 This might be due to dif feren ces in proc essi ng methods empl o ye d ( BernaĞ et al . , 2006) . The ener g y value obtaine d for Termitomyces spp was 114.712 Kcal and that of Pleurotus ostreatus was 89.861 Kcal . Th e en er g y val ue of 89.861 Kcal obtain ed was comparati vel y higher than 28 Kcal of P. ostreatus obtained by Matt il a et al . (2002 ). Thi s might be due to the level of fat and carboh yd rate contents in the mush rooms , which are con centr ated source of ener g y (Dunkw al et al . , 2007). Soon after proc essi ng, the ei ght sampl es were subj ected to prox im ate compos it ion anal ysis to asc ertai n the eff ect of the te chniques on the nutrit ional comp osit ion of the mush rooms. The prox imate anal ysis reveal ed con trasti ng valu es as compar ed to the fresh sampl es anal yz ed the same wa y. The final moi sture conte nt of Termitomyces sp p ranged from 11.942% to 16.034% while Pleurotus ostreatus values ran ged from 10.566% to 14.401%. Sun dried Termitomyces sp p record ed the high est value of 16.034% and Pleurotus ostreatus baked and sun dried record ed the lowest val ue of 10.566% (Table 4. 5 ). The lower moi sture con tent of 10.566% recorded b y Pleurotus ostreatus baked before dr yin g could be ex pl ained as a result of a rapid deh ydrati on of th e mush roo m due to prehe at tre at ment (bakin g) empl o yed . Even though the pro cess of sun dr yi ng of thi s sampl e l ast ed for 5 da ys in contrast with the 7 days sun dr yin g; and blanchin g and sun dr yin g for oth er sampl es , the pretre atm ent probabl y m ight hav e caused he at da mage and coll aps e of th e int ern al cell s of mush room thus all owi ng rapid evapor ati on of water from the mush roo m surfac e. Th e highest moi sture content of 16.034% recorded by sun dri ed Termitomyces sp p could be att ributed to the limi ted period of dr yin g the mushr ooms . University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 69 P rotein , one of the major nutrients in the mush room , was found to range from 1.733% to 20.804% amon g the sam pl es proc essed. Mud ove n dried Termitomyces sp p reco rded the highest value of 20.804 % and bl anched and su n dried Pleurotus ostreatus the lowest value of 1.733% (Tabl e 4. 5 ). The protein ran ge of 5.567% to 20.804% of the processe d Terrmitomyces sp p was comparable withi n the value of 19.6% obtain ed by Obod ai and Apertor gbor (2009) . Co ntrar y, the ran ge of 1. 733% to 19.839% of t he proc essed Pleurotus ostreatus was below the value of 25.0 % obtained b y Oei (2003 ). The Pleurotus ostreatus blanched in boil ed water con taining 20 g of NaCl for 15 minutes before dr yin g record ed low er value of protein as compar ed to sun dried s ampl e. Th e lo w protein value might be due to increas e protein denatur ati on. Galoburda et al . (2015) opined that at higher blanchin g temp er ature of 100 o C , the prot e in content in the mush ro oms denatured as well as the solub le components in the mush rooms int o the blanching medium. BernaĞ et al . (2006) stated that blanching mush rooms fo r 15 minutes in salt solu ti on decre ases the dr y matter cont ent by 20%; tot al sugar by 5%; and protein content by 12%. Since the value of 20.804 % protei n content of mud ov en dried Termitomyces sp p was withi n the value repo rted b y othe r authors (Oei, 2003 ), it could be ar gu ed that mu d oven dr yin g provides the best way of maintaining p rotein content in this mush room foll owed by sun dr yin g. Howev er, baking and blanchin g in salt solut ion before dr yin g are n ot the best method s of mush room processi n g as these met hods reduce the nutrient content in the mush room. Contrar y, su n dr yin g of Pleurotus ostreatus maintains protein content bett er in the mush room followed b y mud oven dr yin g. Howeve r in sun dr yin g , car e must be taken to prevent contaminati on of the product (Oe i, 2003). In view of the result s obtained for the protein l evels of Termitomyces sp p and Pleurotus ostreatus in this stud y, it is University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 70 suggested th at processi n g of th ese mush rooms in the future be encour a ged in areas wh er e the y are harvested in abu ndance . Carboh yd rate content in the mush rooms varied depending on the t ype of processi ng technique used for each group. In the sampl e of the proc essed Termitomyces sp p, th e carboh ydr ate content ran ged from 57.890% to 73 .022% (T able 4. 5 ). Thes e values were above the value of 36.7 % reco rded b y Obodai and Apertor gbor (2009 ). Low er ran ges of 57.480% to 68.729% we re obse rved in P. ostreatus as compa red to the range observ ed in the Termitomyces sp p . The ave ra ge value of 62.2 08% was above th e valu e recorded b y Obodai and Ape rtor gbor (2009). From the values obtained for carboh yd ra te, it could be ar gued that the process in g maintained the ca rboh yd r ate content of the mush rooms as the values obtained were co mparati vel y high er t han t he values indi cated b y so me authors . The fat content varied from processed mush rooms. P. ostreatus baked and sun dried contained the hi gh est val ue of 12.646 % and th e l owest value of 0.045% was found in P. ostreatus baked and sun dried. These values a re comparable with the val ues of 1.1% to 2.0% obtained b y Obod ai and Ap ertor gbor (200 9). This was bec ause th e subst rate on which the mush room was cult ivated was ri ch i n nutrient s . The hi gh er the subst rate nutrient the higher the nutrient compos it ion of the mush room (Mshandete and Cuff, 2007). The P. ostreatus blanched and sun dried had the highest ash cont ent of 15.092 % followed b y Termitomyces sp p blanch ed and sun dried. The hi gher ash content of 15.092% could be att ributed to the dippi ng of the mush room i n salt soluti on. BernaĞ et al . (2006) reported that bla nching mush room in salt solut ion increase sodi u m, calcium and iron level. Accordin g t o Kaul (2001), about 70% of miner als in mush rooms are University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 71 phosphorus, potassium and sodi um. Blanchin g the mush room in salt s olut ion woul d increas e the potassium , sodi um and calcium level thereb y incr easin g the as h value. The mineral content of zinc, calcium and phosphorus determi ned in the mushrooms are in minim al amount . Pleurotus ostreatus that was mud oven dried contained the highest v alue of 0.054% for zinc (Table 4. 5). Termitomyces sp p mud oven dried contained the highest value of 0.806% for phosphorus. The ener g y value ran ged from 282.253 Kcal obtained for P. ostreatus blanched and sun dried to 402.646 Kcal for the same species baked and sun dried. It could be said from the result s obtained that the ener g y valu e of blanched and sun dri ed sampl e s were low er tha n the rest of the pro cess ed sampl e s . It could be ar gued that blanching of the mush room in salt soluti on causes leachin g of som e of the nutrients int o soluti on thereb y influen cing the value obtained. This is because in determi ning th e ene r g y value, the valu es of fat, pr otein and ca rboh ydrat e ar e used. Durin g blanching, thes e nutrien ts leached int o the blanching medium BernaĞ et al . , 2006; Galoburda et al . , 2015) and contribut ed to the overall de cli ne in the ene r g y value of the blanched produ ct. The result s from Tables 4. 6 and 4. 7 indi cated a drasti c reducti on in moi sture content in each sampl e. Prior to packa gin g and stora ge, the moi sture content of the sampl es ran ge d from 10.566% to 16.03 4% with sun dried Termitomyces sp p reco rding the hi gh est moi sture content of 16.0 34% while bak ed and su n dried P. ostreatus reco r ded the lowest. After pa cka gin g and stor age durin g th e 10 da ys period, the moi s ture conte nt of sampl es stored in the refri ger ator at 4 o C ran ge d from 0.59 9% to 4.542% and that at room storage at 30 – 33 o C ran ge d from 0.755% to 5.633% . Comparing th e result s of Tabl es 4. 6 and 4. 7 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 72 with Table 4.5 , it could b e not ed th at ther e was ex chan ge of moist ure of th e produ cts with the environment. These changes in moi sture conte nt of the product s could be att ributed to low relative humi dit y (65-70%) ex perienced du ring th e sto ra ge pe riod. The valu es of moi sture content obtai ned for the products store d at 30 – 33 o C were higher than those stored at 4 o C (Table 4. 6 and 4. 7 ). From the two ranges (0.599 % to 4.542% and 0.755% to 5.633%), it could be ar gued that storin g the pr ocessed mush rooms at 4 o C prese rve it bett er than storing it at 30 – 33 o C . For th e hi gher the moi sture contents of the product th e gr eate r the suscepti bil it y of the product to microbial att ack (Rai and Arumugan athan, 2008). The values of protein co ntent for the stored prod uct in the two stora ge en vi ronments are d ifferent in relation to the t ype of proc essi n g tech niques used. The lowest protein values were record ed for baked and sun dried Termitomyces sp p while P. ostreatus that is mud oven dried record ed the highest protein value of 23.526%. For Termitomyces sp p, the protein content varied from 7.873% to 23.227%. These values are comp arable with the value of 19.6% obtain ed by Obodai and Ap ertor gbor (2009). Besides, th e value obtaine d for prot ein in the proc essed P. ostreatus varied from 10.671% to 23.526% . These va lue s are howev er lower than the value of 27.0% obtained by Oei (2003 ). In comparin g the result s of Table 4. 6 with Table 4. 7 , it was evident l y cle ar that no subst anti al reducti on in protein content of the processed mush room was recorded durin g the stora ge p eriod. It could also be argu ed that the packa ging and stora ge of the proc essed mush rooms for the 10 days period has no si gnificant eff ect on the prote in content . University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 73 The ca rboh ydrat e conte nt for both products sto red in the two diff erent environments showed contrasti n g valu es. The values of carboh yd r ate content fo r stored product at 4 o C ran ged from 54.453% t o 80.761% and the ave ra ge value was 67.252 %. Contrar y to sampl es stored at 30 – 33 o C , the carboh ydr ate co ntent rang ed from 50.49 2% to 78.442% and the ave ra ge was rec orded as 67.492%. In co mparing the values of th e two stora ge condit ions, it could be ar gu ed that sampl es stored in ref ri ger ator preserv e the carboh ydr ate content bett er than those stored at room temperature alt hough the differen ces in value fo r the two storage condit ions are not signific ant. In calculati n g the carboh ydr ate value, the values of protein, fat an d ash are us ed. Th e rate of ox idative rancidi t y and microbial acti vit y are reduc ed when sampl es are kept in refrigerato r (Dil baghi and Sharma, 2007). This might have inf luenced the values obtain ed. The re was a reducti on in value s of fat during th e 10 days stor a ge period in both storage condit ions in comparison with the fat valu e s obtained prior to packa gi ng and stora ge (Table 4. 5 ). The fat conte n t varied from 0.100 % to 7.620% (Table 4. 6 ) duri ng the 10 da ys period for ref ri ger ator s torage while th e room storage valu es varied from 0.112% to 7.232% (Table 4. 7 ). All the sampl es reco rded red ucti on in fat value s afte r storage ex cept sun dried Termitomyces sp p packa ged in rubbe r bag and plastic container (Tables 4. 6 and 4. 7 ). T he ran ge of value s from 0.210% to 7.6 20 % obtained for Termitomyces sp p stored at 4 o C are compa rable with the value of 2.9% obtained b y Obodai an d Apertor gbo r (2009) and 1.40% obtain ed by Crabb e (2010). In contrast, the ran ge of 0.1 00% to 1.269% obtained for P. ostreatus stored at 4 o C was bel ow the value of 1. 6% obtained by Oei (2003) and 1.32% obta ined by Rai and Arumugan athan (2008 ). The low fat levels record ed amon g sampl es could be att ributed to reacti on between fat and reducin g sugars University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 74 among th e stored s ampl es (Ahmed et al . , 201 4). Also, diffe renc es between values obtained b y othe r autho rs was as a result of di ffer ences in geo graphic al locati on s in which the mush rooms are grown as well as the subst rate compos it ion from which the mush rooms were ha rvest ed (Mshandet e and Cuff, 2007) . Zinc, cal cium and pho sphorus wer e the mine ral elem ents studi ed in the pro cessed mush rooms. No significa nt changes in values wer e seen in zinc, calcium an d phosphorus content in the proc essed mush rooms during the 10 da ys stor a ge period for the two stor a ge condit ions. The temper ature of th e stora ge enviro nment, the prev ail ing rel ati ve humi dit y during the stora ge period and the packa gin g mate rials had litt le influence on the mineral compos it ion of the proce ssed mushrooms. The pe rcenta ge ash cont ent in the pro cessed mu shrooms incre ase d consi d erabl y du ring the 10 da ys pe riod as co mpare d to the ash values reco rded prior to stora ge of the sampl e s (Table 4. 5 ). The values of the ash content varied from 7.555% to 24.862% (Table 4. 6 ) for sampl es stor ed in ref rige rator and 5.648% to 26.053 % (Table 4. 7 ) for sampl es stored at room temperature. The values of the ash content for processed Termitomyces sp p varied from 7.555 % to 24.862% while P. ostreatus ash values ran ge from 7.568% to 18.858% for the same storage condit ion (Table 4. 6 ). For room stora ge condit ion, the values of ash cont ent in the processed mush roo m varied from 5.889% t o 26.053% for Termitomyces sp p while P. ostreatus recorded a ran ge in ash value s of 5.648% to 18.054%. These values are hi gher than the value s obtained by Obod ai and Apertor gbor (2009). From all the values obtained , blan che d and sun dried sampl e s record ed the highest ash value afte r the 10 days stora ge period. The scientific re asons wh y the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 75 blanched s ampl es recor ded the high est ash co ntent could not be esta bli shed by the resea rche r but it could be ar gu ed that the salt content might hav e contr ibut ed to these values. The ene r g y values for both stor age condit ions recorded dif fer ent but closer values. Th e ener g y values we re foun d to ran ge from 263.539 Kcal to 405.186 Kcal for product stored at 4 o C while a ran ge of 281.907 Kcal to 405.360 Kcal we re reco rded fo r sampl es stored at 30 – 33 o C . Termitomyces sp p sun dried recorded the highest ene r g y value in both storage condit ions while the lowest ener g y values of 263.539 Kcal and 281. 907 Kcal were record ed fo r Termitomyces sp p blanch ed and sun dried and stor ed at 4 o C and 30 – 33 o C , respecti vel y. Th ese en er g y valu es ar e compar abl e with the values of 22 9.8 00 Kcal for Termitomyces sp p and 279.9 00 Kcal for P. ostreatus obtained by Obodai and Apertor gbor (2009 ). It can be stated that the p ackagin g and the stora ge temperatur e h as no effe ct on the en er g y values of the produ ct. The moi sture content of the mush rooms in Table s 4. 8 and 4. 9 were foun d to var y from 0.540% to 4.678% in sampl es stored at 4 o C and 0.761% to 6.101% for sampl es stored at 30 – 33 o C . Th ese moi s ture content chan ges in significantl y in value as comp ar ed to samples anal yz ed after 10 days stora ge period. It could be ar gued that rel ati ve humi dit y in the stora ge environ ment was favourable hence not muc h ex chan ge of moi sture occurr ed between the pr oducts and th e envi ron ment. Howev er, th ere was litt le gain in moi sture value of most of the product i n Table 4. 8 over the 20 days sto ra ge period. It cou ld be conclud ed that the packa gin g and stor age condit ion help mai ntain moi sture content over the stor a ge period. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 76 The value of protein co ntent of the mush rooms aft e r 20 da ys showed l it tl e chan ge in value as compa red to the 10 da ys stor a ge pe rio d. The value was found to range from 10.133% to 23.522% among the mush room species processed and stored at 4 o C while a ran ge of 9.987% to 23.4 49% was reco rded among sp ecies pr ocess ed and stored at 30 – 33 o C over the 20 da ys storage period. Th e ave ra ge protein content of the proc essed mush room was 17.899% for refri gerator stora ge and 17.748% for sa mpl es store d in room. P. ostreatus mud oven dried record ed the highest protein val u e of 23.522% and Termitomyces sp p baked and dried the lowest value of 10,133% (Table 4 . 8 ) for sampl e anal yz ed afte r 20 da ys of stora ge at 4 o C . Fo r s ampl e stored at 30 – 33 o C , mud oven dr yin g record ed the highest value of 23.449% while Termitomyces sp p bak ed and sun dried record ed the lowest value of 9.987% (Table 4. 9 ). The protein content of the processed Termitomyces sp p ran ged from 10.133 % to 23.101% and thi s was compa rable with 19.6% obtained b y Obodai and Aperto r gbor (2009). The protein cont ent determi ned for P. ostreatus stored at 4 o C ranged from 10.611% to 23.522% and thi s value was lower than 25.0% obta ined by Oei (2003). From Table 4. 9, the prote in content for Termitomyces sp p varied from 9.987% to 23.001 % for produ ct stored at 30 – 33 o C for 20 days while P. ostreatus record ed a ran ge of 10. 551% to 23.449% for the same period. The values indi cated in s ignificant ch an ge in pro tein content in terms of the treatm ent appli ed to the various groups. It can ther efor e be ar gued that the pack agin g and the stor age environm ent had no signific ant ef fect on the result of the protein value obtained in comparison with the result s recorded after th e 10 days stor a ge period. The carboh ydr ate cont en t for the 20 da ys period at 4 o C ran ged from 53.89 1% to 77.934% while the processed sa mpl es stored at 30 – 33 o C recorded a ran ge of 50.655% to University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 77 75.964%. Wit h regard to ref rigerato r stora ge, Termitomyces sp p bak ed and sun dried record ed the highest ca r boh ydr ate value of 77.9 34% while Termitomyces sp p blanched and sun dri ed record ed the lowest carboh yd rat e value of 53.891 %. Fo r P. ostreatus , sampl es that was blan che d and sun dried and pack aged in rubbe r ba g recor ded the lowest carboh ydr ate valu e of 64. 535% . Fat content vari ed in the process ed mush rooms. For ref rigerato r stora ge, Termitomyces sp p sun dried and packa ged in rubber ba g contai ned the hi ghest value of 7.606% and the lowest of 0.154% was found in Termitomyces sp p sun dried and pa cka ged in plastic container. Fo r room stor age , Termitomyces sp p sun dried and packa ged in rubbe r ba g record ed the highest fat value of 8.111% while P. ostreatus blanched and sun dried and packa ged in plastic cont ainer record ed the low es t fat value of 0.120 % (T able 4. 9 ). From the result s obtain ed, ru bber ba g pa cka ge maint ain fat content bett er than t he plastic container pack a ge. Acc ording Csapo and Var gane (2011) fat ox idation increase with increasin g moi sture con tent in mush rooms. Th e moi sture cont ent of t he mush rooms packa ged in rubber ba gs reduced consi derabl y over the stora ge perio d. This might accounted for reducti on in fat ox idation hence fat value was maintained bett er in thi s packa gin g mate rial. Mushrooms are rich sour ces of mineral elements (Rai and Arumuganatha n, 2008). Zinc, calcium and phosphorus were the mineral el ements studi ed. It was obs erved that the packa gin g m aterials and the prev ail ing condit ion s in the stor a ge environm ent had litt le or no influence on the min erals compos it ion of the process ed mush rooms (Table 4. 8 and 4. 9 ). The ascorbi c acid content for both stora ge condit ions also p res ent sim il ar values. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 78 Howeve r, the ash values for the processed mush r ooms after 20 da ys peri od for the two storage environments sh owed si gnificant chan ge s . For refri ger ator stor a ge, the values of ash content ran ge from 8.021% to 25.387 % whil e room stora ge recor ded a ran ge of 7.879% to 25.031%. Termitomyces sp p blanched and sun dried recorded the high est ash value of 25.387% while P. ostreatus baked and sun dried the lowest value of 8.021% for sampl es stored at 4 o C . For sampl es stored at temperatur e of 30 – 33 o C , Termitomyces sp p blanched and sun dried recorded the hi ghest valu e of 25.031% while P. ostreatus baked and sun dried reco rded t he lowest o f 7.879%. Th e highe r ash value in bla nched products could be att ributed to salt content in the mush room. S un dried O yster Mushr oom and mud oven dried W il d Mushroom have hi ghe r consum e r assessment compar ed to the rest of the proc essi ng techniques. This observ ati on could be due to sati sfactor y taste the consum ers have ha d over the ye ars with these processi n g methods compared to other methods. The sensor y anal ysis indi cated that sun dried oyster mush room was pr efe rred by th e pan eli sts to an y other proc essed s ampl es. The y ex plained that the tex ture, aroma and appe aran ce wer e bett er than the rest of the sampl es. Accordin g to Rai and Arumuganathan (2008) sun dried oyst er mush room regain ed tex ture and flavour bett er than an y other pro cessi ng techniques . The y how ever su ggested that further dr yin g shoul d be empl o ye d to redu ce the moi sture content to 7% to prevent spoi lage durin g stora ge. The paneli st s disl iked for appea ranc e, siz e and aroma of the blanched and sun dried oyster mush room could be att ributed to the brow n colour of the sampl e caus ed b y maill ar d rea cti ons (Oei, 2003 ). Contrar y, blanch ed and s un dried o yster mush room had bett e r tas te assessment. This coul d be due to taste enhan c ement obtained when the mush room wa s dipped into salt solut ion. BernaĞ et al . (2006) reported that University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 79 mush room dipped in salt solut ion improved taste but had ne gati ve effe ct on some of its nutrients . The pan eli st disl ike d for tex ture of mud oven dried , and taste and aroma of baked and sun dried o yst er mush room could be d ue to the brown colour th e y observ ed o f the products. This brown colour might be due to enz ym ati c and non - enz ym ati c brownin g reacti ons (B yun g, 200 4). These rea cti on s ha d negati ve consum e r assessment on processed product (Rai and Arumuganathan, 2008 ). Differ ent trends wer e observed in Table 4. 11 . Mud oven dried Termitomyces spp had bett er consum e r assessm ent than an y of the proc essed sampl e. This mi gh t be due to the resis tant of the mush roo m to mai ll ard brownin g (B yun g, 2004). Lo w app e aranc e, tex ture and siz e scored b y th e paneli sts for blan ched an d sun dried Termitomyces spp; and low taste and aroma for bak ed and sun dried Termitomyces spp could be att ributed to the temperatur e ef fe ct on the product. B yun g (2004) asserted that blanchin g mush rooms in brine solut ion befor e dr yi n g as well as bakin g and dr yin g them facil i tate enz ym ati c browning. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 80 CHAPTER SIX 6.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 6.1 Conclusi o n  The res ear ch rev ealed that mishandli ng, unti mel y ha rvesti n g and i mproper harvesti n g methods of wild mush ro oms reduce its market value an d provide medium for pests and diseases att a ck.  The result s from the study showed that process ed mush rooms are rich in proteins, carboh ydr ates, miner als, vitamins and good fats.  The various pro cessi n g techn iques used reve ale d that mud oven dr yin g of the mush rooms provides the best result b y maintainin g the nutrient compos it ion in the mush rooms bett er than the rest of the processi n g methods.  Blanchin g (in salt soluti on ) and sun dr yin g metho d maintain mushroom co lour but had negati ve eff ect on the nutrient compos it ion of the processed product as most of the nutrients might ha ve leach ed int o the salt soluti on .  S un dr yin g was found to be easiest and che ap est method in terms of labour invol vement. P. ostreatus sun dried maintaine d its original colour an d bett er flavour but had hi gh er moi sture content henc e further dr yin g in oven at a lower temperatur e for a minim um of 2 hours to reduce the moi sture cont ent to about 8% is requ i red . The rest of pr ocessed produ ct produc e d cream y and b rown colour.  It was also obser v ed th at mud oven dr yin g of mush room for 2 hou rs at 80 o C reduced the ini ti al moi sture content of 85% to 10% hence provided t he best method for proc essi ng and storing the process ed mush rooms for a lon ger period without deteri orati on. Pr ocessed products stor ed in refri gerator provides the best University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 81 means of stora ge than th ose stored in room as the moi sture content of mus hrooms stored in refriger ator at 4 o C reduced con sider abl y to about 4% or lower during the 20 da ys stora ge period. This was due to loss of moi sture b y the produc t to the storage environment. Ho wever, the chan ge in moi sture content of the pro duct in the two storage condit io ns showed in significant differen ces in values. It was also worth noti ng that the lower the moi stur e content the higher the soli d content and the longe r the stora ge period fo r futur e use. High moi sture content facil it ate mush room rot and micro bial att ack.  It was reve aled from th e result s that due to the perme abil it y of the pac kagin g material to moi sture coupled with low rela ti ve humi dit y in the storage environment , moi sture moves easil y from the product to the environment. This was manifested in the values obtained for moi sture content for the 20 days s torage period.  The stud y also rev ealed t hat s un dried o yster mus hroom and mud oven dried wil d mushroom have hi gh con sumer assessment compa red to the rest of the proc essi ng techniques. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 82 6.2 Recommenda tion  Further resea rch shoul d be carri ed out to identif y what m ight have accou nted for the loss in nutrit i onal compos it ion of blanched m ushrooms in 20g of salt solut ion for 15 minut es. Sever al lit eratures agre ed on thi s asserti on but fail ed to ex plain the chemi str y behind this loss.  R esearch shoul d be car ried out to asc ertain whether low mud ov en dr yin g temperatur es of mush rooms for longer period could influence the nutrit ional content of the produ ct. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 83 REFERENCES AOAC (2000). Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists . 13 t h Ed iti on. Association of Official Anal yti cal Chemi sts . Washington DC, USA. 125 – 30 Ahmed El – R. , Ah raf R. El – Zein y., Eman A. El., & A. Abd R. (2014). Quality Attributes of Mushroom ± Beef Patties as a Functional Meat Product. 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(2014). The world¶s healthiest foods . Essenti al Guide for the Healt hiest Wa y of Eati ng. First Editi on. Geor ge M ateljan Fund ati on Lim it ed , USA . 3 – 7 Matt il a, P., Konko , K., Eurola, M., Pihalava, J . M., Astola J ., Vahterist o, I., Hiet aniemi, V., Kumpulainen, J ., Valt onen, M., & Puro nen, V. (2001). Contents of vitamins, mineral elements, and some phenolic compounds in cultivated mushrooms. Journal of Agricult ur al and Food Che mi str y. 49, 2344 – 2348 Matt il a, P. , Suonpää, K. , & Pii ronen , V. (2 000). "Functi onal prop erties of edibl e mush rooms". Nutrition 16(7 –8), 693 –697. Matt il a, P., Salo -Vaana nen, P., Konko, K. , Aro, H., & Jalava, T. (2002) Basic Compos it ion and Amino Acid Contents of Mushrooms Cult ivated in Finland. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry . 2 Mini str y of For ests and Range (201 4) Forest Mushrooms , Canada www.for. gov.b c.ca/h fp/publi cati ons/ 00029/m ushwhat.ht m Mshandete, A. M., & Cu ff, J . (2007). Prox im ate and Nutrient compos it ion of three t ypes of indi genous edibl e wild mush rooms grown in Tanz ania and their uti li z ati on prospects. African Journal of Food Agriculture Nutrition and Development , 7(6) Obodai , M. (2001 ) . An Ethnobotanical Study of Mushroom Germplasm and its Domestication in the Bia Biosphere Reserve , Fo od Research Insti tut e, Accra - Ghana, 30 -31 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 88 Obodai , M., & Aperto r gbor. M. (2009) Proximate Composition and nutrient content of some Wild and Cultivated mushrooms of Ghana . CSIR – Food Rese arch Insti tut e, Kumasi. 3 – 5 Oei, P. (1996 ). Mushroom Cultivation : With Special Emphasis on Approp riate Techniques fo r Devel oping Countries . Tool Publi c ati ons , Leid en, the Netherlands. 234 – 235 Oei, P. (2003) Mushroom Cultivation 3 rd Edit ion: Appropriate Technolo gy for Mushroom gro wers . Backhu ys Publi shers, Leid en, the Nethe rlands. 4 – 6, 14 – 18, 114 – 117, 355 – 357, 366 – 384 Phil li p , S. C. (2002) Int egr ated Pest Mana ge ment, Info rmati on and Comm unicati on Technolo gies, Coll ege of Agricultural Scienc e, Pe nns ylvania State Univers it y. 47 – 50, 52 – 60 Rai, R. D. , & Arumugan athan, T. (2008) Postharvest Technology of Mushrooms , Director, Nati onal Resea rch C enter fo r Mushroom, Chambaghat, Solan – 173 213 (HP), India, 1 -2, 5, 32, 43 Rodrigo, M., Calvo, C., Sanchez , T., Rodrigo, C., & Martinez , A. (19 99). Quality of canned mushrooms acidified with glucono- ୿-lactone . Internati onal J ournal of Food Scienc e Technol o gy. 34 (2 ), 161 – 165 Santosh , K., Gireesh , C., Srivastava, J . N. , & Shamsher, M. D. (2014). Postharvest Technology of Button Mushroom: A Socio-Economic Feasibility . Depart ment of Plant Pathol ogy, Biha r Agricultural Universit y, Sabour (813210) Bihar. 5 -10 Saw ye rr, L. C. (2000 ). Geneti c resour ce aspects of mush room cult ivation on small scal e. In: Proc eedin gs of the 1 st Int ernati onal Con gr ess for the cha ract eriz ati on, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 89 conservati on , ev aluation and uti li z ati on of mush room gen eti c resou rce s for food and agri cul ture. 3 Schafer, W. (2010). Canning whole or sliced mushrooms . Universit y of Minn esota Ex tension. Department of Food Sci ence and Nutr it ion, USA. 3 – 4. Retrie ved 02-04 -2011 Staunton , L. , & Dunne, R. (1999 ) Integrated disease and pest control in Irish mushroom tunnels , Kinseal y Res ear ch Centre. 12 – 14 Sull ivan , R. , Smith , J . E. , & Rowan , N. J . (2006). "Medicinal mush ro oms and cancer therap y: translating a tra dit ional practi ce int o Western medicine". Perspect Biol Med 49 (2), 24 –25. Syn yts ya , A., Mtþkovi, K., J ablons k ý, I., Sl uková, M., & ýoptkovi, J . (2008) Mushrooms of genus Pleurotusas a source of dietary fibres and glucans for food supplements. Czech J. Food Sci., 26 , 441 – 442. Verma, R. N. (2 013) Indian Mushroom Industry ± Past and Present . Nati onal Resea rch Centre for Mushroom, C hamba ghat, Solan (H. P.) , India. 8 – 15 Vett er, J . (2003) Chemical composition of fresh and conserved mushroom. Eur . Food Res. Technol. 217 (1), 10 – 12 Wiki media Foundati on Inc. (Wiki pedia ®) (2012 ): Mushroom. Retrieved 28 t h , J anuar y, 2012 www.biolog y- onli ne.or g Wiki media Fou ndati on Inc. (Wiki pedia ®) (2014 ): Mushroom. Retrieved 5 t h , Februar y , 2014 www.biolog y- onli ne.or g University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 90 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 Question n aire for far mers to assess the ir method s of harvestin g wil d mush rooms and ways of red ucin g postharvest loss es in wild mush rooms T hi s quest i onnair e is des igned to sol i ci t inf or mat ion for pur el y academi c purpose . Thi s is to enable KOK OT I GAMEL I KWABLA, a final year student of the Uni ver sit y of Ghana , Legon to compl et e his thesis on the Res ear ch Topic: Ass ess ing the eff ect of proces si ng techni ques on st orage, physi cal att ri butes and nut ri ti onal composi ti on of Wil d Mus hr ooms ( Termitomyces spp) and Oyst er Mus hr oom ( Pleurotus ostreatus) in pursuant of a Master of Phi l osophy in Crop Sci ence . Dear Respondent , I woul d be grat eful if you coul d give your res ponse to each of the foll owing ques t i ons in conne ct ion wit h the above - me nt i oned study. Instructi ons : Please write answers for your responses on the line provided and tick where appropriate. A. Background Inform at i on 1. Age (yr s.) : 10 – 20 20 – 30 30 – 40 40 and above 2. Sex: Femal e Male 3. Ma ri tal st at us: Singl e Marr ied Widowed 4. Main occupation …………………………………………….. 5. Secondary occupation ……………………………….............. 6. Numb er of year s of har ves ti ng wil d mushroom……………… Contact number if any)…………………….. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 91 B. Harvesti ng of mus hroom 7. At what st age is ideal for har ves ti ng wil d mushr ooms? When the veil has not opened When the veil is about to open When the veil has opened 8. Wha t time is idea l for har ves ti ng mushr oom? Earl y mor ni ng After noon Late aft er noon Eveni ng Explai n your choi ce of time ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 9. How ar e the mushr ooms har ves t ed? Pulli ng them wit h hand Diggi ng ar ound them with cutl ass and pull ing them Diggi ng them up wit h hoe Speci f y any ot her method if not included……………….. ………………………………………………………………… 10. How much vol ume of mus hr ooms is coll ect ed per day? 1kg 2kg 3kg 4kg 5kg or mor e C. Postharvest managem ent of mushroom s 11. How man y times do you har ves t the mushr oom in the col ony each day? 1 time 2 times 3 times 4 times 5 times or mor e 12. How ar e the mushr ooms handl ed aft er har ves t ing from the fiel d? Kept in an open bowl Kept in a bowl and covered Tie d with threa d and hel d in the hand Speci f y any other handl ing proce dur e …………………………………………………………………………………….. 13. How ar e the fresh mushr ooms pr et r eated bef ore sal e? Wash wit h clea n wat er Wash with bri ne wat er None of thes e University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 92 14. How ar e the fresh mushr oom packa ged? In a plas t ic cont ai ner s In a rubber bags Tied wit h threa d No packagi ng done 15. Wha t happen to fres h mushr ooms that are unsol d? Sun dryi ng them Baki ng them Grill ing them Baki ng and sun dryi ng them Steami ng them Specify other treatment s) if not included……………………………………………… D. Postharvest loss es of mushrooms 16. Wha t vol ume of mushr ooms are sol d dai l y from what is coll ect ed? 1 kg 2 kg 3 kg 4 kg 5 kg or mor e 17. Wha t vol ume of mushr ooms are lef t unsol d dail y? 0.1 kg 0.2 kg 0.3 kg 0.4 kg 0.5 kg or mo r e 18. Wha t quant it ies of mushr ooms (in kg) go was t e after har ves t i ng from the fiel d? ………………………………………………………………………………… 19. Wha t are maj or caus e of loss es in the har ves ted mushrooms? Mishandl i ng of mushr ooms Pests att ack of mushr ooms Sun scor ch Diseas es att ack of mushr ooms Specify if any other cause s) isare not included…………………………………….. ………………………………………………………… E. Ways of reduci ng post harves t losse s of mushrooms 20. How can cap and st al k losses be re duce d? ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 21. In your own wor ds expl ai n bri ef l y ways of mini mi zi ng losses in har ves t ed mushr ooms …………………………………………………………………… Thank You University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 93 APPENDIX 2 Analysis of proximate comp osition of cultivate d and wil d fresh mush roo ms (per 100g samp le) Anal ysis of varian ce Variate: ASC ORB IC _A C ID Source of variati on d.f. s.s. m.s. v.r. F pr. TRT 1 0. 0. Residual 4 0. 0. Total 5 0. Tables of means Variate: ASC ORB IC _A C ID Grand mean 0.01 TRT OYS TER MUS HROOM TERM ITOM YCES 0.01 0.01 Standard erro rs of me ans Tab l e TRT rep. 3 d.f. * e.s.e. 0.000 Standard erro rs of diff er e nces of means Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. * s.e.d. 0.000 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 94 Le ast signifi cant diff eren ces of means (5% lev el) Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. * l.s.d. * University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 95 APPENDIX 3 Analysis of proximate co mp osition of processed mush roo ms (per 100g sa mp le) Anal ysis of varian ce Variate: ASC ORB IC _A C ID Source of variati on d.f. s.s. m.s. v.r. F pr. TRT 7 5.727E-02 8.181E-03 8181.43 <.001 Residual 16 1.600E-05 1.000E-06 Total 23 5.729E-02 Tables of means Variate: ASC ORB IC _A C ID Grand mean 0.06100 TRT OMB&D OMBL&D OMEOD OMSD TB&D TBL&D TEOD 0.04300 0.02200 0.18300 0.03500 0.04300 0. 02800 0.07700 TRT TSD 0.05700 Standard erro rs of me an s Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 16 e.s.e. 0.000577 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 96 S tandard erro rs of diff er e nces of means Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 16 s.e.d. 0.000816 Least signifi cant diff eren ces of means (5% lev el) Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 16 l.s.d. 0.001731 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 97 APPENDIX 4 Analysis of proximate co mp osition of processed mush roo ms stored at 4 o C in rubb er bags and plastic contain ers af ter 10 days (per 100g samp le) Anal ysis of varian ce Variate: ASH Source of variati on d.f. s.s. m.s. v.r. F pr. TRT 15 1.468E+03 9.787E+01 1.402E+07 <.001 Residual 32 2.233E-04 6.979E-06 Total 47 1.468E+03 Message: the following units have large residuals. *unit s* 17 -0.00533 s.e. 0.00216 Tables of means Variate: ASH Grand mean 11.83106 TRT OMB&D(P ) OMB&D(R ) OMBL&D(P) OMBL&D(R) OMEOD(P ) OMEOD(R ) OMSD(P) 7.70600 8.69033 18.85833 18.52667 9.71933 9.53100 8.59400 TRT OMSD(R) TB&D(P ) TB&D(R ) TBL&D(P) TBL&D(R) TEOD(P ) TEOD(R ) 7.56800 9.46733 8.30433 24.86233 21.86000 8.9 3033 8.07200 TRT TSD(P ) TSD(R ) 11.05200 7.55500 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 98 S tandard erro rs of me ans Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 e.s.e. 0.001525 Standard erro rs of diff er e nces of means Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 s.e.d. 0.002157 Least signifi cant diff eren ces of means (5% lev el) Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 l.s.d. 0.004394 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 99 APPENDIX 5 Analysis of proximate co mp osition of processed mush roo ms stored at 30 – 33o C in rubb er bags and plastic con tain ers af ter 10 days (per 100g sa mp le) Anal ysis of varian ce Variate: ASC ORB IC _A C ID Source of variati on d.f. s.s. m.s. v.r. F pr. TRT 15 1.02005933 0.06800396 3290.51 <.001 Residual 32 0.00066133 0.00002067 Total 47 1.02072067 Tables of means Variate: ASC ORB IC _A C ID Grand mean 0.18367 TRT OMB&D(P ) OMB&D(R ) OMBL&D(P) OMBL&D(R) OMEOD(P ) OMEOD(R ) OMSD(P) 0.12400 0.12767 0.06500 0.06800 0.54400 0.54900 0.11300 TRT OMSD(R) TB&D(P ) TB&D(R ) TBL&D(P) TBL&D(R) TEOD(P ) TEOD(R ) 0.10967 0.1203 3 0.11500 0.09033 0.09133 0.23533 0.24033 TRT TSD(P ) TSD(R ) 0.17467 0.17100 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 100 S tandard erro rs of me ans Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 e.s.e. 0.002625 Standard erro rs of diff er e nces of means Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 s.e.d. 0.003712 Least signifi cant diff eren ces of means (5% lev el) Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 l.s.d. 0.007561 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 101 APPENDIX 6 Analysis of proximate co mp osition of processed mush roo ms stored at 4 o C in rubb er bags and plastic contai n ers af ter 20 days (per 100g samp le) Anal ysis of varian ce Variate: ASC ORB IC _A C ID Source of variati on d.f. s.s. m.s. v.r. F pr. TRT 15 1.09322281 0.07288152 3357.31 <.001 Residual 32 0.00069467 0.00002171 Total 47 1.09391748 Tables of means Variate: ASC ORB IC _A C ID Grand mean 0.19560 TRT OMB&D(P ) OMB&D(R ) OMBL&D(P) OMBL&D(R) OMEOD(P ) OMEOD(R ) OMSD(P) 0.12967 0.13033 0.06433 0.06533 0.55033 0.54833 0.12433 TRT OMSD(R) TB&D(P ) TB&D(R ) TBL&D(P) TBL&D(R) TEOD(P ) TEOD(R ) 0.12233 0.12833 0.12700 0.08533 0.08600 0.30033 0.32033 TRT TSD(P ) TSD(R ) 0.17533 0.17200 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 102 S tandard erro rs of me ans Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 e.s.e. 0.002690 Standard erro rs of diff er e nces of means Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 s.e.d. 0.003804 Least signifi cant diff eren ces of means (5% lev el) Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 l.s.d. 0.007749 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 103 APPENDIX 7 Analysis of proximate co mp osition of processed mush roo ms stored at 30 – 33o C in rubb er bags and plastic con tain ers af t er 20 days (per 100g sa mp le) Anal ysis of varian ce Variate: ASC ORB IC _A C ID Source of variati on d.f. s.s. m.s. v.r. F pr. TRT 15 9.631E-01 6.420E-02 29632.70 <.001 Residual 32 6.933E-05 2.167E-06 Total 47 9. 631E-01 Message: the following units have large residuals. *unit s* 36 -0.00300 s.e. 0.00120 *unit s* 47 0.00367 s.e. 0.00120 Tables of means Variate: ASC ORB IC _A C ID Grand mean 0.19348 TRT OMB&D (R) OMB&D(P ) OMBL&D(P) OMBL&D(R) OMEOD(P) OMEOD(R ) OMSD (R) 0.14033 0.13800 0.06800 0.07033 0.52033 0.56000 0.15333 TRT OMSD(P) TB&D (P) TB&D (R) TBL&D (P) TBL&D (R) TEOD (P) TEOD (R) 0.15033 0.12200 0.12333 0.09833 0.09400 0.26233 0.26033 TRT TSD (P) TSD (R) 0.16933 0.16533 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 104 S tandard erro rs of me ans Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 e.s.e. 0.000850 Standard erro rs of diff er e nces of means Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 s.e.d. 0.001202 Least signifi cant diff eren ces of means (5% lev el) Table TRT rep. 3 d.f. 32 l.s.d. 0.002448 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 105 APPENDIX 8 Question n aire for mush roo m far mers and con s u me rs in Hohoe and Kpelezo co mmu n ities to evalu ate con su mer acc ep tabi li ty of two dried sp ecies of mush roo ms This questi onnaire is designed to soli cit information for purel y acad emi c purpose. This is to enable KO KOT I GA ME LI KWABLA a final ye a r student of th e Unive rsit y of Gh ana, Le gon compl et e his thesis on the Research To pic: Assessi ng the effe c t of processi ng techniques on stor a ge, ph ysi cal att ributes and nutrit ional compos it ion of Wil d Mushrooms (Termitomyces sp p ) and O yste r Mush room ( Pleurotus ostreatus ) in pursuant of Master of Philosop h y Crop Science. Dear Respond ent, I would be grate ful if yo u could give your respon se to each of t he followi ng questi ons in connecti on with the abov e -mentioned stud y. Instru cti on s : Please write numbers of your rating in the boxes and sentences on the line provided and tick where appropriate. A. Backgrou n d Informatio n 1. Name (opti onal) ……………………………………… 2. Age yrs.)……… 3. S ex : Female Male 4. Marital status: Single Married Widow ed 5. Number of years in prod ucti on and/or harv esti ng of wil d and o yst er mushroom……………… 6. Contact number if any)…………………….. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 106 B. Consumer Evalu ation of Dried Mushrooms 7. R ate the fruit y arom a for the dried mushrooms ( dislike/3; neither/6; like/10 ) Sun dried mushroom Baked and dried mushro om Blanch ed and dri ed mushroom Mud oven dried mushroo m 8. W hich colour of the drie d mushroom do you pr ef er? ( dark brown/10; brown/20; cream/30 ) Sun dried mushroom Baked and dried mushro om Blanch ed and dri ed mushroom Mud oven dried mushroo m University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 107 9. W hich tex ture of dried mushroom do you like? ( rough/5; rough and tender/10; smooth and tender/15 ) Sun dried mushroom Baked and dried mushro om Blanch ed and dri ed mushroom Mud oven dried mushroo m 10. R ate the siz e of the dried mush room ( too small/6; small/12; large/20 ) Sun dried mushroom Baked and dried mushro om Blanch ed a nd dri ed mushroom Mud oven dried mushroo m 11. How will you rate the tas te of the dried mushroom ( it is tasteless/8; it holds ones tongue/16; it is tasty/25 ) Sun dried mushroom Baked and dried mushro om Blanch ed and dri ed mushroom Mud ov en dried mushroo m University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 108 C. Improv e men t of Physical Attrib u te 12. How shoul d the taste of t he mush room be improve? …………………………………………………….. 13. W il l the colour of the mushroom influence its priz e? Yes No If yes, explain……………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… D. Package Material Acceptabi li ty 14. W hich packa gin g of the dried mushroom wil l you prefe r? Rubber bag Plastic containers Ex plain your choice University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 109 APPENDIX 9 Table of Scorin g Attrib u tes Max - Score Sample - 1 (SD) Sample - 2 (B&D) Sample - 3 (BL&D) Sample - 4 (M OD) Appear ance 30 Tex ture 15 Siz e 20 Taste 25 Aroma 10 Total score 100 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh