Reginald C. Ohiri

Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Port Harcourt;East-West Road, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria;
e-mail: raycohiri@yahoo.com; reginald.ohiri@uniport.edu.ng

The aim of the study was to determine the composition of the sclerotium of  Pleurotus tuber-regium and to analyze its nutritional potential. Major minerals and micronutrients content of the P. tuber-regium sclerotium were determined. The study has shown fairly high concentrations of potassium and magnesium as major minerals with values of 60.66 ± 4.13 and 41.79 ± 3.14 mg/kg, while manganese and zinc were micronutrients with the highest values of 1.20 ± 0.10 and 0.95 ± 0.07 mg/kg. Glutamic acid and aspartic acid were also observed in high concentrations with values of 11.51 ± 1.01 and 5.52 ± 0.86 mg/kg. The mushroom powder of P. tuber-regium was a source for production of oil, which was analyzed by GC-MS method. Benzenedicarboxylic acid mono-(2-ethylhexyl) ester and benzenedicarboxylic acid butyl-cyclohexyl ester were volatile constituents predominating with percentage total of 78.7 and 5.2, respectively. It is concluded that the presence of mineral elements, amino acids and volatile components observed in this fungus indicated the presence of the nutritional potential in the sclerotia of P. tuber-regium.