Abstract
To help develop a technology for the conversion of the solid matter contained in sweet potato shochu lees, which is a food industrial waste, into a new resource, a study was conducted on the use of dried shochu lees as a nutrient material in the culture medium of hiratake mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus). Mushroom cultivation could be shortened by 4-8 days by using the shochu lees medium in lieu of the conventional rice bran medium. The mean yield in a test plot with 60% shochu lees was 137g, which was 1.6 times the yield from rice bran medium. Moreover, hiratake cultured in the shochu lees medium contained more protein than mushrooms grown on rice bran medium, indicating that the use of dried shochu lees could make it possible to commercially produce mushrooms with higher protein contents than conventionally grown mushrooms and open a way for large-scale utilization of shochu lees.
