Spent Mushroom Substrate for fuel,

manure and feed

B.L.Attri

Directorate of Mushroom Research

ICAR, Chambaghat, Solan (H.P.)- 173 213
 SPENT MUSHROOM SUBSTARTE ?

Compost is considered "spent" when one full crop of mushroom, has

been taken or when further extension of cropping becomes
unremunerative.

RATIONALE

Mushroom growing is an eco-friendly activity as it utilizes the wastes

from agriculture, poultry, brewery etc. and in turn produces
mushrooms with excellent and unique nutritional and medicinal
attributes.

If not handled properly it creates various environmental problems

including ground water contamination and nuisance.
 Traits of spent mushroom substrate
1.9-0.4-2.4% (N-P-K) before weathering and 1.9-0.6-1.0 (N.P.K) after
weathering for 8-16 months.

SMS contains much less heavy metals than sewerage sludge, which
precludes its classification as a hazardous substance.

SMS obtained from various sources usually have conductance in the

range of 1.9 to 8.3 memos/cm.

Chloride used to be one of the major inorganic anions in SMS and it

varies from 1.5 to 7.5kg/1000 kg in fresh SMS, while 0.3kg/1000kg in
well rotten SMS. SMS has an initial pH of 7.28 which increases during
weathering.

The volume of SMS also decreases (shrinkage) over the time.

The fresh SMS obtained from various sources varies in its density :
0.198 g/cm3 with a range of 0.15 to 0.24 g/cm3 in U.K., 0.475 g/cm3 in
Ireland and 0.24 to 0.62 g/cm3 in USA.
 Industrial Agro waste Poultry waste
waste

Organic waste
collection

Mushroom
Cultivation

Microbial Protein Residue after

cultivation

Food

Soil health Fodder Bioremediation Organic Biogas Disease Mushroom

improver farming control cultivation

Animal feed
Vermiculture and
Vermicomposting Fuel
Excreta Sludge

Soil
Recycling of Spent Mushroom Substrate
Different methods of composting
 1. Reclamation of soil
It leads to an improvement in soil texture, water holding
capacity and nutrient status of soil.

It does not have any adverse effect on soil alkalinity while,

its amendment in soil leads to an increase in the organic
carbon content.

The phosphorus and potassium requirements of the crop

plants can be fulfilled by incorporating 5% of SMS by
volume, while nitrogen requirement can be fully met by 25%
of SMS by volume.
Table 1. Response of tomato seedlings (g/plant) to rate of
SMC in a peat based substrate used as a single nutrient source

SMC% by Nutrient supplied by SMC

volume
N P K

5 6.6 22.6 18.3

10 8.2 23.1 19.2

15 10.9 24.7 20.7

20 12.0 22.0 20.0

25 13.4 21.1 19.9

30 13.6 17.3 18.6

F-test -- -- --

SE (df=54) 0.4 0.9 0.6

(Source: Maher, 1991)
Table 2. Silage yield (Dry t/A and % N) from fields where
spent mushroom compost was applied annually

Treatment 1988b 1989 %N 1990 %N

t/Acre

Control 1.13 2.42 0.80 4.67 1.09

100 1.87 4.27 1.39 14.34 1.37

200 1.97 3.60 1.50 16.08 1.39

400 Nc 3.98 3.58 15.78 1.37

Nc: No harvest due to death of plants

(Source: Wuest and Fahy, 1991)
 Table 3. Corn grain yields (t/A at 15.5% H2O) from
research plots where spent mushroom was tilled
in prior to planting

Treatment 1988b 1989 %N 1990 %N

t/Acre

Control 18.8 33.1 0.80 16.7 1.09

100 21.9 66.8 1.39 268.1 1.37

200 24.1 59.1 1.50 252.5 1.39

400 Nc 74.9 1.58 300.9 1.37

data represent average of 3 replications

Nc: No harvest due to death of plants
(Wuest and Fahy, 1991)
 2. Organic Manure
Suitable treatments
Rapid salt leaching
Weathering in open for two to three years

Use as manure for

Flowers
Vegetables
Fruits
Saplings
Ornamental shrubs
Horticulture plants of economic importance
Common vegetables: cucumber, tomato, broccoli, tulip, cauliflower,
peppers, spinach etc. but the response of the plants vary at different
levels of SMS incorporation
 3. Disease management
The actinomycetes, bacteria and fungi inhabiting the compost exert
antagonism to the normal pathogens surviving and multiplying in the soil
eco-system.
It restricts the root knot infestation of tomato plant by Meloidogne
incognita.
The extract from SMS inhibits the conidial germination of Venturia
inaequalis, causal agent of apple scab; Cochliobolus carborum, causing
disease on maize and Sphaeropsis sapinea causing disease on red pine.
The weekly/biweekly application of spreader/sticker amended SMS
extract, starting from green tip to petal fall of apple tree reduces the scab-
affected leaf area.
 3. SMS for bioremediation
Mechanism

• Chemical adsorption of organic and inorganic pollutants

• SMS harbors diverse category of microbes

• Actinomycetes (Streptomyces sp. and Thermomonospora sp.)

responsible for have strong PCP catabolizing capabilities.
 Examples
• 44.4-60.5% disappearance of PCP in 21 days with spent sawdust of shiitake
mushroom, supplemented with nutrient solution of glucose, thiamine and
mineral salt.
• Faster degradation of 3 and 4 ring compounds with oyster mushroom SMS.
• Near 80-100% decolourization of different dyes with SMS of different
mushrooms under ideal cultural conditions.
• Faster degradation of different pesticides and fungicides in presences of SMS
based manure under field conditions.
• Decontamination potential of land sites used for disposal of hazardous
wastes.
• Enhanced alachlor disappearance and protection from root injury in garden
pea cv. Taichung.
• An ideal choice for passive treatment of coal mine drainage.
• Use in construction of artificial wet land.
• Stabilization of abandoned mine sites, pipeline construction sites and
commercial/industrial sites.
 4. Regrowing of mushrooms
The respawning of Agaricus spent compost together with the addition of
Spawn mate (delayed-release nutrient) and Bonaparte peat (adsorbant
material) resulted in good yield of second Agaricus crop.
Shiitake spent mushroom compost supplemented with 10% wheat bran
and 10% millet could be utilized for Pleurotus sajor-caju cultivation but it
required air-drying, grinding, supplementation, pasteurization and
spawning steps.
P. sajor-caju cultivation on spent shiitake base medium with 12% soyabean
and 1.0% calcium carbonate with increased biological efficiency and
mushroom size.
Anaerobically fermented spent mushroom substrate as casing material for
button mushroom cultivation with additional advantage of less bacterial
blotch infection.
Table 4. Percentage biological efficiency (% B.E.) and
mushroom size of Pleurotus sajor-caju produced (21 days) on
spent shiitake substrate, supplemented with precipitated
calcium carbonate (CaCo3) and whole, ground soybean

Supplement rate % B.E. (%) Size (g)

Soybean CaCO3
12 1 62.4 11.6
24 2 60.2 8.7
24 0 56.3 8.7
12 2 56.0 9.5
24 1 55.9 9.4
0 2 54.3 11.1
12 0 41.8 8.0
0 1 29.3 8.4
0 0 28.2 7.8
(Source: Royse, 1993)
 5. Animal feed

Oyster mushroom SMS makes available the feed with higher

protein value and digestibility than ordinary feed
The Pleurotus SMS can substitute about 30% of the total
feed without affecting the growth of animals
The protein content in P. ostreatus and Lentinula edodes
SMS increased from 24.1 to 32.3% and 28.4% to 36.7%
respectively after SSF

It also increased the in vitro digestibility of total crude protein

by 70%
Table 5. Effect of pilot-scale SSF fermentation on the
contents of spent compost medium

Media with 35% spent compost of

P. ostreatus L. edodes

Control Fermented Control Fermented

Crude Protein 24.1 32.3 28.4 36.7
(%DW)
Crude Fibre (%DW) 14.8 10.2 13.3 9.8

Crude ash (%DW) 6.5 9.0 6.5 9.3

In vitro crude 64.2 67.8 68.7 70.1
protein
digestibility (%DW)

DW - dry weight (Source: Zhang et al., 1995)

Table 6. In situ dry matter digestibility (DMD) of
untreated and Pleurotus treated paddy straw (10 days
after first flush)

Substrate DMD % increase/decrease

in digestibility
Untreated paddy straw 40.68 --
Unfermented PS treated 54.20 +33.23
with P.florida
Unfermented PS treated 59.20 +45.53
with P.sajor-caju
Semi-fermented PS 49.57 +21.85
treated with P.florida
Semi-fermented PS 52.72 +29.66
treated with P.sajor-caju
 6. Biogas production (fuel)
SMS from oyster mushroom can be utilized further as cattle
feed and the waste of cattle, i.e., manure can be used for
producing biogas and the solid residue such obtained again
can act as good casing material

Again the SMS thus generated can again be used for raising
crops

The increased susceptibility and increased nitrogen contents

of the spent residues are the main reasons behind high % of
gas yield

Solids from the digester act as very good fertilizer for nursery
raising as well as for the vegetable crops
Table 7. Recycling mushroom substrates and wastes

Recycling Course Product Waste

Cultivation cotton Fibres Plant residue cotton
straw
Cultivation of oyster Oyster mushrooms Spent substrate (SMS)
mushroom on straw
SMS used as cattle Meat and milk Manure
feed
Manure fermented to Methane energy Residue ("Cabutz")
produce biogas
Cabutz used as casing Champignons SMS
soil for champignons
SMS composted for Organic food crops No further waste
organic farming
 Conclusion
Major concern are:

Increase in 10 to 100 time salt concentration in soil water

Elevation in the concentration of ammonium, nitrate, chloride,

sulphate, calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium in the
ground water

More dissolved organic carbon, dissolved organic nitrogen and

nitrate with no pesticide residue in soil and ground water

Variation in pH (8.2-7.3), conductivity (2380-1410 memos/ cm3),

carbon:nitrogen ratio (9-15:1), nitrogen availability (organic and
inorganic ) and in the ratio of nitrate N to ammonia N
SMS requires some early treatments like desalting/prolonged
leaching and recomposting because the desalted or
recomposted material have shown several advantages over
fresh.

The spent mushroom substrate quality parameters like its

conductivity, load of heavy metals and phosphate should be
given due consideration before using in the field.

So in the era of growing environment awareness and strict

legislations, the exploitation of SMS for the management of
environment, agriculture and production of recyclable energy
should be encouraged.