Circular Economy of Mushroom Cultivation and Used Substrate Potential for Various Valuable Products
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Mushroom is one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic industries within the world agricultural sector, as the mushroom industry is continuously being industrialized in Asia, Europe and North America, and as mushroom consumption keeps increasing as a source of high-quality and low-impact protein. In fact, this growth creates an ever increasing by-product which is spent mushroom substrate (SMS) the lignocellulosic material that remains after mushroom fruiting bodies are collected. When not re-used, SMS is a lost resource and an environmental burden, increasing GHG emissions, leachate pollution and disposal expenses. This review brings together current knowledge of the production trends and mushroom potential for global and regional production, mushroom properties and nutritional benefits in human nutrition as well as the mushroom valorisation process and possibilities. Its applications in the soil as compost and biofertiliser for enhancing soil structure and fertility, as a poultry and ruminant feed ingredient, as a feed ingredient for aquaculture species and farmed insects as a second generation feedstock for bio-organic production of bio-gas, bio-ethanol and bio-char and as a source of residual lignocellulolytic enzymes and recovered bioactive compounds for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications. In all these applications, the evidence is mounting for an integrated biorefinery strategy where several value streams are extracted from a single substrate before any waste product is returned to the soil, instead of SMS being considered as a single-use waste product. However, this potential needs to be realised on a wider scale, including the need to standardize the characterization of the substrate, increase investment in large-scale field and techno-economic studies and integrate better the mushroom farms with the surrounding agricultural, livestock and energy sectors. This review brings together recent developments in these areas and reconsiders the role of spent mushroom substrates as an agricultural waste problem rather than a solution. This review has consolidated the latest developments in these areas and rethought the role of spent mushroom substrates as a contribution to a circular bioeconomy rather than the problem of agricultural waste.
Source: Medical and Life Sciences
Institution: University of Sargodha
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7220496342
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