Washington, D.C. — A new study presented at ASM Microbe 2026 demonstrates that a valuable indigenous mushroom, Lentinus squarrosulus, can be cultivated under controlled conditions using locally available agricultural waste.
"The study shows how simple, locally available resources can be used to address multiple problems at once, including waste management, biodiversity loss, food insecurity and public safety," said corresponding study author Agbonma Onyeka, Ph.D., who was a doctoral researcher at Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria, when she conducted the study. "The findings may stimulate increased interest in sustainable mushroom farming and create new opportunities for collaboration in food systems, environmental sustainability and low-cost biotechnology across Africa and other developing regions."
L. squarrosulus, a local edible mushroom, is traditionally found in many parts of Eastern Nigeria on decaying wood logs in the wild. It has nutritional and therapeutic potential but is poorly researched and is gradually becoming scarce in the wild due to deforestation, bush burning and other human activities. The seasonal mushroom is mostly picked from the wild, which can lead to mushroom poisoning due to misidentification.
The researchers conducted their study to find a safer and more sustainable way to preserve and cultivate L. squarrosulus to ensure year-round availability as an alternative protein source while also exploring how agricultural wastes, like sawdust, which are in abundance posing environmental nuisance, can be put to better use. The researchers collected L. squarrosulus from decaying wood logs in the wild and developed a controlled method for growing it in the laboratory and on sawdust of different wood species. They observed how well the mushroom grew on each different sawdust species type and how effectively it converted these wastes into edible mushroom biomass. They then harvested the mushrooms and checked the weight, size and nutritional content.
The researchers produced mother culture of L. squarrosulus and found the mushroom can grow successfully on locally available sawdust of different wood species, and that Treculia africana sawdust supported growth best when compared to other sawdust types. Sawdust can serve as a low-cost material for mushroom cultivation, making the approach potentially adaptable for low-cost rural production systems, while helping reduce environmental waste. The researchers also demonstrated that the mushroom can be cultivated safely outside the wild, reducing dependence on risky wild mushroom picking. Domesticated mushrooms also showed improved nutritional composition compared to wild strain.
This study suggests that domestication using waste materials could boost food production, create employment opportunities for local farmers and small businesses, and encourage safer mushroom consumption by reducing reliance on wild mushroom picking. Furthermore, the findings may aid in the preservation of an indigenous mushroom species that is progressively growing extinct in some regions.
"Simple local resources can be used to solve multiple problems at the same time. By cultivating indigenous mushrooms on agricultural wastes, it may be possible to reduce waste, increase food availability, preserve valuable local species, create jobs and encourage safer mushroom consumption," Onyeka said. "This study demonstrates how locally accessible wastes that are frequently disregarded might offer workable answers to actual food and environmental problems. This work is especially significant since it integrates indigenous biotechnology, food sustainability, agricultural waste management and biodiversity protection in a single approach."
