Fate of Carbohydrates and Lignin during Composting and Mycelium Growth of Agaricus bisporus on Wheat Straw Based Compost

PLoS One. 2015 Oct 5;10(10):e0138909. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138909. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

In wheat straw based composting, enabling growth of Agaricus bisporus mushrooms, it is unknown to which extent the carbohydrate-lignin matrix changes and how much is metabolized. In this paper we report yields and remaining structures of the major components. During the Phase II of composting 50% of both xylan and cellulose were metabolized by microbial activity, while lignin structures were unaltered. During A. bisporus' mycelium growth (Phase III) carbohydrates were only slightly consumed and xylan was found to be partially degraded. At the same time, lignin was metabolized for 45% based on pyrolysis GC/MS. Remaining lignin was found to be modified by an increase in the ratio of syringyl (S) to guaiacyl (G) units from 0.5 to 0.7 during mycelium growth, while fewer decorations on the phenolic skeleton of both S and G units remained.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Agaricus / growth & development*
  • Agaricus / metabolism*
  • Carbohydrate Metabolism*
  • Lignin / metabolism*
  • Mycelium / growth & development*
  • Mycelium / metabolism
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Soil / chemistry*
  • Soil Microbiology
  • Triticum / chemistry*

Substances

  • Plant Proteins
  • Soil
  • Lignin

Grants and funding

The work described in this manuscript was performed at the Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. EJ, WA, MK and GH were financially supported by the Technology Foundation STW (grant number 11108), applied science division of NWO and the technology programme of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (The Netherlands) and by Walkro International B.V., Sylvan Inc. and DSM Food Specialities. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Wim Arts is employed by C4C Grondstoffen B.V. C4C Grondstoffen B.V. provided support in the form of salary for author WA, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.