Mass Production of Mushrooms using Sewage Sludge Compost and Utilization of Waste Beds for Crop Cultivation

Abstract

A mass production test of tsukuritake mushrooms ( Agaricus bisporus ) that can be cultivated in compost was conducted to develop a new utilization method for sewage sludge compost. The fruit body yield was 1350 ± 230 g/container in the test plots using sewage sludge compost/cow manure, which was comparable to the control plot using horse manure compost. In the test plots using sewage sludge compost, the amount of free amino acids in fruit bodies increased by 50-70 % compared to the control plots. Furthermore, heavy metal analysis of fruiting bodies showed the detection of Cd and T-Hg in fruit bodies in the test plots using sewage sludge compost. Judging from the acceptable values for agricultural products and the content of heavy metals in domestically grown mushrooms, however, the values of the fruit bodies cultivated in this test were judged to have no effect on health. The waste fungus bed was subjected to a cultivation test of komatsuna ( Brassica rapa var. perviridis ), and it was found that the mushroom waste bed containing sewage sludge compost and cow dung compost especially grew more than the section with chemical fertilizer application and could be used as a partial substitute for fertilizer.