Chapter 2 - Biotechnological Recycling of Fruit Tree Wastes by Solid-State Cultivation of Mushrooms

Abstract

The laboratory experiments which are presented in this chapter were carried out on testing and optimization of fruit tree wastes recycling through controlled cultivation of mushroom species Ganoderma lucidum and Pleurotus ostreatus in order to retrieve their carpophores to be used as food and nutritive supplements. To achieve these goals, a new and innovative environmental biotechnology was applied for full recovery and valorization of all fruit tree wastes (leaves, branches, dried trunks), usable as raw materials of hitherto untapped economic value, to prepare nutritive substrates for mushroom growth. In this way, the lignocellulosic wastes of fruit trees may be integrated extremely quickly into the main cycles of organic matter in nature, as new links introduced in the natural food chain by the cultivation of edible and medicinal mushrooms belonging to the mentioned species.