hydroponics & mycology
“
Mushrooms represent one of the
fastest growing specialty crops
worldwide, a growth driven by
increased demand for locally grown
product as part of a healthy diet.”
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feature
Take the pizza boxes that contain fats, oils, and meat
and cheese residue. “They’re not suitable for adding
directly to a compost pile because they would change the
microbial community. But fungi break things down to a
condition where they’re suitable to compost. In a sense,
it’s sort of like pre-composting a product before it hits the
actual compost pile.
“Mushrooms are the quintessential decomposers of the
planet, turning almost anything into a form that can be
readily utilized by other systems,” says Pryor.
One of his research projects involves taking spent
substrate to make compost teas to add to plants in
hydroponic or greenhouse systems that will provide plant
nutrition and increase plant health by stimulating the
plants defense responses.
Another idea under study is taking used substrate and
packing it into long tubes like the straw berm bumpers
found on road cuts to contain erosion. Using that same
process, the tubes packed with substrate are laid in front
of areas where dirty water moves into watersheds. That
water would then filter through the berms, which would
bioremediate some of the wastewater pollutants like
insecticides, pesticides, and petroleum products.
“We also use the spent substrate to feed insects, taking
things insects wouldn’t normally eat and convert-
ing them into a fungus-degraded substrate combina-
tion that insects can now utilize. Then, we can use the
insects for protein sources for animal feed or perhaps
for human consumption.”
Pryor says the protein content issue is significant,
as is the ability of these miniature pharmaceutical
factories to provide micronutrients and
vitamins. “They’re 40 per cent dry weight
protein,” says Pryor. “They contain all
nine essential amino acids, are high in
B and D2 vitamins, and have a higher
digestibility index.”
Calling mushrooms “the protein
source we should send into space,”
he notes: “We can grow protein
in a lot of different sources, but
mushrooms have an advantage
because of their pharmaceutical
properties—antioxidants, anti-
tumor, anti-inflammatory—all
the medicinal properties that
make them superior. You can’t
just discount that. If we’re going
to send astronauts into space,
millions and millions of miles
away from home, and say, ‘Here’s
your protein source,’ we’re going to
have to have some value-added, and
mushrooms provide that.”