Mushroom: A healthy food that pays: Written by Arinze Onebunne As Nigeria explores possible areas of diversifying its economy to rake in more foreign exchange, the country should take a closer look at mushroom. The plant resource is available in high quantity but has remained largely untapped and unutilised. Since mushrooms lack chlorophyll they cannot, like green plants, get their energy from the sun through photosynthesis. Instead, during their vegetative growth stage, mushroom mycelia secrete enzymes that break down compounds such as cellulose and lignin present in the substrate. The degraded compounds are then absorbed by the hyphae and the mycelium enlarges-usually laterally, and in some cases growing several meters in diameter with the substrate. Mushrooms are the edible fleshy fruiting bodies of certain fungi, which in our villages are gathered in the wild by women and children who through their expertise are able to distinguish the edible from the poisonous ones. Mushrooms can be commercially grown both for local consumption and export market under controlled scientific conditions. Edible mushrooms once called the food of the gods and still treated as a delicacy; can be taken regularly as part of the healthy human diet or be treated as medicine. The extractable products from mushrooms can serve as food and as tonic. Mushrooms consumption can make you healthier, fitter, and happier. They can make you live longer, as well as look younger. The greatest difficulty in feeding man is to supply a sufficient quantity of the body-building material-protein. The other three nutritional categories are: the source of energy food-carbohydrates and fats; accessory food factors-vitamins; and organic compounds which are indispensable to good health. Of course, water, too, is essential. In terms of the amount of crude proteins, mushrooms rank below animal meats, but well above most other foods. Mushrooms contain too much of nutrients to be neglected. They contain on dry matter basis 25-45 per cent of protein and because of this high protein content, they have been substituted for meat in some part of the world. Furthermore, mushroom protein contains all the nine essential amino acids required by man. The moisture content of fresh mushrooms varies within the range 70-95 per cent depending on the harvest time and environmental conditions. In addition to their good proteins, mushrooms are a relatively good source of the following nutrients: fat, phosphorus, iron, and vitamins including thiamine, ascorbic acid and niacin. They are low in calories, carbohydrates and calcium. Mushrooms also contain a high proportion of unsaturated fat and they may enhance the immune responses of human body, thereby increasing resistance to disease and, in some cases, cause regression of a disease state. Cultivated mushrooms versus wild mushrooms Mushrooms constitute a most rapidly growing new food category which the current health-oriented public is increasingly enjoying. Medicines and foods have a common origin. However, before eating any mushroom, make sure you have properly identified the specie. Every year, hundreds of people become ill and some even die because they collect wild mushrooms and wrongly identify them. Eating home-grown mushrooms remains the safest way for selecting edible mushrooms. It is hoped that mushroom farming will become a very important cottage industry activity in the integrated rural development propramme, which will lead to the economic betterment of not only small farmers but also of landless people and other weak sections of communities in Nigeria. The payback period is pleasantly short. This lasts between 8-10 weeks depending on the type of mushroom. During this period you will not only recover your investment but will break-even and make huge profit from the venture. Mushroom is a cash crop. Attend Jovana Farms nationwide seminars nearest to you and know more opportunities in mushroom cultivation. Visit us at:jovanafarm, E-mail:jovanafarms@gmail or Call: 080 33262 808, for more details. Choose also the nearest venue from the advert box in this page and in our website. [email protected]/news/source/2014/oct/1/513.html
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 09:25:14 +0000
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