REDUCTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION BY BIO-CONVERSION OF ORGANIC WASTES INTO NUTRITIOUS MUSHROOMS.
Organic solid wastes are a kind of biomass, which are generated annually
through the activities of the agricultural,forest and food processing
industries.They consist mainly of three
components:cellulose,hemicellulose and lignin.The general term for these
organic wastes is lignocellulose.It is common knowledge that
lignocellulosic wastes are available in abundance both in the rural
areas.They have insignificant or less commercial value and certainly no
food value, at least in their original form.When carelessly disposed of
in the surrounding environment by dumping or burning, these wastes are
bound to lead to environmental pollution and consequently health
hazards.It should be recognised that the wastes are resources out of
place and their proper management and utilization would lead to further
economic growth as well.Huge quantities of lignocellulosic and other
organic waste residues are generated annually through the activities of
agricultural, forest and food processing industries.In 1999, more
than3,000 million tons of cereal straws were available in the world and
about half of these residues remain unused.All these lignocellulosic
waste residues can be used as substrate growing mushrooms;otherwise,they
would cause health hazards.
Mushroom enzymes can break down lignin,
cellulose and hemicellulose present in these organic materials into
simpler molecules, which the mushrooms then use for their growth and
metabolism.Lignocellulosic compounds are complex and insoluble.They can
be treated by various chemical methods, e.g. with dilute hydrochloric
acid and calcium chloride to increase the digestibility and nutritional
qualities, and even to form sugars to serve as carbon sources. However,
these chemical methods are tedious and costly. Furthermore, treatments
to eliminate adverse side effects of the chemicals are also very
complex. In contrast, mushroom cultivation techniques have become
significantly important in recent years in improving nutritional quality
and upgrading the economic value of the solid organic wastes. Mushrooms
with other fungi are presently only organisms that can synthesize and
excrete the relevant hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes that enable them
to degrade complex organic substrates into soluble substances which can
then be absorbed by the mushrooms for their nutrients,the ability of the
different mushroom species to utilize various substrates will depend on
both mushroom-and substrate-associated factors.For example, examination
of the lignocellulolytic enzymes profiles of the three important
commercially cultivated mushrooms exhibit varying abilities to utilise
different lignocellulosics as growth substrate.Lentinula edodes is
cultivated on highly lignified substrates such as wood or sawdust,
produces two extracellular enzymes(manganese peroxidase and laccase)
which have been associated with lignin
depolymerisation.Conversely,Volvariella volvacea prefers high cellulose-
low lignin-containing substrates such as paddy straw and cotton wastes
which have relatively low lignin content, and produces a family of
cellulolytic enzymes including at least five end oglucanases,five
cellobihydrolases and two ß-glucosidases,but none of the recognised
lignin-degrading enzymes.
Pleurotus ostreatus is the most adaptable
of the three species and can be grown on a wide variety of agricultural
waste materials of differing composition in terms of
polysaccharide/lignin ration,because it is able to excrete both kinds of
cellulose- and lignin-degrading enzymes.
Mamaland Mushroom Farms (2015).
E-Mail:-Mamalandmushroomproject@gmail.com,
Phone: +255621-080300.
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Mamaland Mushroom Farms.
Blog: Mamalandmushroomproject.blogspot.com
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