Application of Brewer Spent Grain from the Beer Industry as a Unique Substrate for the Cultivation of Pleurotus Ostreatus Mushrooms

Abstract

In Peru, the beer industry produced 998 million liters during 2020, and its manufacturing process generates various agro-industrial waste such as Brewer Spent Grain (BSG), equivalent to 80% of all agro-industrial waste generated approximately 570 million tons in the year 2020. This research aims to establish whether BSG as a residual product can function as a substrate for the cultivation and production of Pleurotus ostreatus mushrooms, offering an alternative to existing commercial substrates by evaluating the performance of its characteristics such as pH level, presence of ash, nitrogen, its biological efficiency (kg of mushroom/kg substrate), its productivity (biological efficiency/cultivation time), among other factors. An experimental design of mushroom cultivation was carried out according to the conventional assisted fruiting method in polyethylene bags. The laboratory analyses concluded that BSG as a substrate for the cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus had a biological efficiency of 27,25% lower than the results of other substrates such as corn and coffee pulp, which have a biological efficiency of 68% and 70% respectively; although it presented a productivity of 0,605 compared to similar studies that on average had a productivity of 0,75. The study showed that BSG is a good substrate for the cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus and it is expected that its performance can improve when used as a mixed miscellaneous substrate, offering a new circular economy alternative for the brewing industry.