Domestication of Wild Edible Mushrooms in Eastern Africa: A Review of Research Advances and Future Prospects

Authors : Susan KABACİA, Mary Nyawira MUCHANE

Pages : 22-50

Doi:10.30708/mantar.1080983

View : 18 | Download : 6

Publication Date : 2023-04-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Mushroom farming is an emerging industry in Africa with great potential to improve livelihoods. However, the industry is still dominated by a few exotic varieties faced with challenges of regional adaptability. Also, information concerning their domestication status, challenges and future prospects is scattered and unclear. The purpose of this paper was to review and detail the diversity of mushrooms occurring in Eastern Africa insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(EA);, reveal the wild edible/medicinal species insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(WEMs); that have already been domesticated, their domestication status, the nutritional composition status of the edible species and availability of their germplasm insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(mother cultures);. To achieve this, a detailed review of published research articles, books and reports from EA was conducted. Data was collected from articles focusing on the diversity of WEMs, nutritional composition analysis and domestication methods and status. From the review, 306 WEMs are shown to have desirable characteristics for utilization as food /medicine, with Tanzania documenting the highest number insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(147); followed by Malawi insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(90);. Among these, 82 species are edible ectomycorrhizal species with great potential to support the mushroom industry if sustainably harvested and managed. The rest are saprophytic fungi species. Only 14 species among the saprobe group have been tissue cultured, tested for spawn production and cultivation. 51 species have been analyzed for nutritional composition. However, none of these have been commercially introduced to cultivation and the availability of their germplasm for research and propagation purpose is uncertain. The result from this study clearly shows research on the domestication of WEMS in Africa is still in its infancy stages.
Keywords : Kültür mantarcılığı, Dağılım, Türler, Substratlar, Simbiyoz