THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF SOME UGANDA MUSHROOMS

Mushroom culture is an important horticultural industry in Europe, the United States of America and Japan, but to a lesser extent in Australia, Argentina and the Republic of South Africa, Singer (1961). In the humid African tropics, Kenya and Malagasy are probably the only countries in which mushrooms are grown on a commercial scale. Agaricus bisporus (Lange) Sing. is the most commonly grown mushroom, especially in the Western world. The other mushrooms grown on a commercial scale are: Lentidus edodes (Berk.) Sing. in Japan and Volvariella volvacea (Fr.) Sing. in South East Asia and Malagasy, Singer (1961).

Many of the mushrooms eaten in Africa are wild species and most of them belong to the genus Termitomyces Heim which is believed to have a symbiotic relationship with certain species of termites, Heim (1958). Although they are wild, the African mushrooms, and particularly those associated with termites, are "considered superior to all other mushrooms" according to Singer (1962).

In order to reach maturity, A. bisporus requires a temperature of 10–18°C during part of the growth cycle, Lambert (1967); it would therefore be an expensive undertaking to grow this mushroom in most areas of Africa. It would appear that investigations into mushroom culture in the tropics should be concerned with those mushrooms which are well adapted to a warm climate. It was on this basis that work was started at Makerere University on the biology of the African edible mushrooms and their food value in order to assess their potential as a horticultural crop. This paper reports on the nutritional value of some of the mushrooms found growing in the wild state in Uganda.