PROS AND CONS OF P. FLORIDA CULTIVATION FOR MANAGING WASTE OF HANDMADE PAPER AND CARDBOARD INDUSTRIES

The possibility of utilizing handmade paper and cardboard industrial sludges in the production of edible mushrooms involves risk of introducing toxic substances into the human food chain. Therefore, in the present study, genotoxic assessment of P. florida (Pleurotus florida) cultivated on these industrial sludges and their combination with wheat straw was done by Ames test using Salmonella typhimurium TA 98 and TA100. Interestingly, P. florida carpophores, cultivated on wheat straw did not show either frameshift or basepair mutagenicity as revealed by mutagenicity ratio (<2) and mean number of revertants which was found to be 81.3 and 93.4 revertants per plate in the absence of S9 mix. However, this number was found to be increased to 112.1 and 226.3 revertants with S9 mix. P. florida cultivated on waste and its combination showed increase in number of revertants (123.4-170.1 revertants with TA 100 and 79.5-84.1 revertants with TA 98) in the absence of S9 mix over control. Further, increase in number of revertants (229.0-247.3 with TA 100 and 100.3-129.1 with TA 98) was observed on adding S9 mix with both strains S. typhymurium but still mutagenicity ratio was found to be below 2. Hence, these mushrooms were not found to be genotoxic. This mushroom cultivation technique, will not only provide proteinaceous food but also help in reducing industrial wastes. Besides, these can serve as very good source of income for the poor workers working in these industries that can collect the waste from the industries and use it for P. florida cultivation.