Enhancing the nutritional and functional properties of Pleurotus citrinopileatus mushrooms through the exploitation of winery and olive mill wastes.

Treatment and disposal of wineries and olive-oil mills waste is usually associated with complex processes, which are often of limited wide-scale applicability. Olive-leaves plus two-phase olive mill waste (OLW) or grape marc plus wheat straw (GMW) were assessed as substrates for the cultivation of the choice edible mushroom Pleurotus citrinopileatus. GMW led to increased mushroom biological efficiency and shorter production cycles. Antioxidant activities, triterpenic acids, free amino acids, lovastatin and ergosterol were significantly higher in fruitbodies from GMW; the latter compound was positively correlated with squalene concentrations in substrates. Glucans, resveratrol and fatty acids content showed minor differences among mushrooms from the three substrates examined, whereas ergothioneine was significantly higher in fruitbodies grown on OLW. High correlations were noted for oleanolic, ursolic and amino acid content in mushrooms and their respective substrates. Moreover, FTIR spectra revealed variations in fruitbodies content in bioactive compounds which were associated with the substrates used.