Conversion of Agricultural Wastes into Value Added Product with High Protein Content by Growing Pleurotus ostreatus

An experiment was conducted to examine the ability of Oyster mushroom to grow on tomato tuff mixed with wheat straw. Six treatments were examined including the control, which contained 90% wheat straw with the fixed additives (wheat bran and gypsum). After inoculation and incubation, transparent plastic bags were used for cultivation. Three days were needed for pinheads to start appearing, and then between 3–7 days were needed for the maturity of the basidiomete. Several growth parameters were examined including incubation, primordial induction and fructification period, earliness, average weight of individual basidiomata, average yield for each treatment, diameter of the pileus, Biological Efficiency (BE%). In addition, proximate analyses for protein, crude fat, crude fiber, ash, carbohydrates, minerals and moisture were performed. The best performance was obtained by adding 30% tomato tuff to the basal growing medium which gave the highest yield (417–478 g/bag), average weight (21–29 g/cap), average cap diameter (9.2–10 cm/cap) and BE% (84–96%). Carbohydrates and protein content were high in Pleurotus basidiomete, fiber was high too but not as high as carbohydrates and proteins. Ash content was moderate, while fat content was low. For mineral contents in mushrooms, the trend was the same in all treatments. Both macroelements K and P were high in their concentrations when compared with other minerals in all treatments. Sodium was moderate in its concentration, while both Mg and Ca were found at low concentrations, but Mg was relatively higher than Ca. For microelements, both Fe and Zn were relatively high compared with other minerals like Cu and Mn, which were found at very low concentrations.