Biodegradation of Nigerian wood wastes by Pleurotus tuber-regium (Fries) Singer

Studies were carried out for 90 days on the degradation of wood wastes of four economically important Nigerian trees; Terminalia superba, Mansonia altissima, Holoptelia grandis and Milicia excelsa by white rot fungus, Pleurotus tuber-regium a Nigerian edible mushroom. The pH of the wastes dropped to 4.0/4.2, 90 days after incubation. On the contrary, amino nitrogen content of the wastes increased consistently during this period of solid-state fermentation. Lignin degradation also increased with the increase in incubation days. The greatest lignin reduction was observed in H. grandis followed by T. superba, M. altissima and M. excelsa. Digestibility of spent substrates by ruminants increased during fermentation as follows: M. excelsa > M. altissima > T. superba > H. grandis. These results are discussed in relation to the use of fermented wood wastes as feeds for ruminants.