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Ecological Waste Management Program Compliance

White Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) Production:
Utilizing Cellulose Based Residues

January 11, 2016
Research and Development Council
Youth for Environment in School Organization

Rationale

The school is one of the most high producers of waste paper in the community, unfortunately these materials were not properly utilized in which in most practice to get rid of these waste materials is through burning. Trust International Paper Corp. (TIPCO) said that the rate of wastepaper recovery in the Philippines is only 26 percent, the lowest among Asian nations, with Korea ranked first (Enriquez, 2002). This is due to no diverse introduction as to how to reutilize these materials into more beneficial products. The research and development of the youth for environment in school organization have decided to find solutions that may somehow regain the value of the waste papers in order to produce a highly beneficial products.

White Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) Production: Utilizing Cellulose Based Residues is a prototype experiment that investigates the feasibility of utilizing waste papers to grow edible mushrooms.  This experiment was done last March 1, 2012. Pleurotus ostreatus is an edible mushroom that is not yet locally popular. This was chosen to be the experimental fungi because it has this invasive characteristic. Spawn was solicited from the Department of Agriculture. Health benefits, on the other hand, white oyster mushroom shows great contribution in lowering cholesterol (Bobek, 1991).   Research and Development Council of the YES-O headed by the research adviser determined that the mycelium of the fungi shows considerable inhibition of bacterial growth with absolute clearing within its zone of inhibition 24 mm on average, which means no any other bacterial growth observed inside and outside of the agar plate. Just recently, a laboratory test is done at the Institute of Chemistry at the University of the Philippines – Diliman, white oyster mushroom shows sugar suppression activity, alpha-glucosidase assays reveal that by organic extraction using ethanol white oyster mushroom could inhibit 22% of the total enzymatic activity. This is highly significant compared to the local herbs used to lower blood sugar for a diabetic patient, but this is insignificant when it is compared to acarbose that is used to inhibit enzymatic activity. It is then the road map of the research and development of the YES-O to investigate the local type edible fungi in the locality and to utilize paper as a substrate.

Why paper?

Paper is a cellulose-based material which individual glucose (C­6H12O6) is being firmly connected by Beta 1,4 bond. Cellulose, therefore, is a sugar polymer in which only a specific enzyme could act against the bond to allow individual glucose units to break free from the chain and become an available source of energy to some forms of living organisms. The council has hypothesized that by applying thermal technique the cellulose becomes more accessible to the fungi’s mycelia.

A Paper the substrate was thermally pre-treated for 45 minutes in boiling water then allowed to cool. Excess water was allowed to drip off the paper until the desired wetness achieved.  Mushroom spawn was placed at the center of the roll and was incubated for three weeks. Mushroom mycelia cover the entire surface until small fruiting bodies appeared and gradually developed into mature mushroom fruit body. The desired moisture and humidity were artificially maintained to mimic the natural growing environment of the fungi.

Initial Result

After three to four weeks, the mushroom growing in a paper substrate. Please refer to the picture attached to this report.












































There is no additional nutrient added to the substrate unlike to the other natural substrate like the rice straw that the nutrients of the plant can be accessed by the mushroom mycelia.  This perhaps is the reason why the mushroom fruiting body cannot grow that much compared to the mushroom growing in the natural substrate.
In this view, the research team planned to re initiate the experiment utilizing available source of common nutrient requirements and using again the paper substrate. Further analysis regarding on the mushrooms bioactive compounds will be initialized when there’s enough fruiting body produced.

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