Abstract

NIETO, Ivonne Jeannette  and  CHEGWIN A, Carolina. The influence of the substrate used for growing edible fungi on their nutraceutic characteristics. Rev. colomb. biotecnol [online]. 2010, vol.12, n.1, pp.169-178. ISSN 0123-3475.

Colombia is a country which is mainly devoted to agricultural activity, thereby producing large amounts of vegetal waste leading to environmental problems; fungi-growing thus represents a potential biotechnical application resulting from the fungi’s own metabolic diversity. Such potential lies in producing fungi as food having optimum nutritional quality and obtaining bioactive products from fungi which would contribute to Colombia’s economy in the not too distant future and to reducing environmental contamination. Within the fungi kingdom, the Pleurotus species can grow on a great variety of substrates and they have special properties for degrading the large percentages of lignocelulosic components present in agroindustrial waste. The present study was aimed at evaluating the effect of the substrate used on the fungi’s nutritional and/or nutriceutical quality (genus Pleurotus). It was indeed determined that fungal composition, regarding net protein content, fibre, humidity, ash, carbohydrates and total fats, varied with the substrate used, thereby having a direct impact on their properties, taking into account that certain components contain metabolites such as polysaccharides and sterols which have previously reported bioaction. It was also found that such variations differed, depending on the species.

Keywords : Pleurotus; fungi; substrate; nutritional value; bioconvertion; nutraceutic.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )