Determination of Antioxidant, Antimicrobial and Enzymatic Activities of Spent Mushroom Compost of Morchella sp. and Pleurotus sp. Cultivation

The production and culture of mushrooms is increasing as a desirable addition to the cuisine since ancient times. Mushroom culture is a biotechnological process that recycles ligninocellulosic wastes, since mushrooms are food for human consumption and the spent substrate can be used in different ways. The aim of this study was to assess the antioxidant, antimicrobial and enzymatic effects of post-harvest compost extract from Morchella esculenta and Pleurotus ostreatus culture. The spectrophotometric method with DPPH was applied to antioxidant capacity determination in spent mushroom compost extracts. A comparative study determined that n-hexane extracts of spent compost of Pleurotus ostreatus culture showed higher antioxidant potential than methanol extracts. Antimicrobial activities of extracts against Bacillus cereus ( NRRL-B-3711), Enterococcus feacalis (ATCC 29212), Escherichia coli (ATCC 35150), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 15442), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Candida albicans (ATCC 64548) were determined by dilütion of extracts. According to our results, antimicrobial activity profile shows differences depend on cultivated mushroom species, compost type and extraction solvent. DNS (amylase and cellulase) , ABTS (laccase) and well diffusion method (protease) were used for determination of enyzmatic acitivies. Although most of the tested Pleurotus and Morchella extract demonstrated very good amylase and laccase activities, no cellulase and protease activity was detected. The results indicate that spent mushroom extracts can be used as cost-effective source for bioactive biomolecules.