Themes for mushroom exploitation in the 21st century: Sustainability, waste management, and conservation

Because many natural resources are limited, sustainability becomes an impor tant concept in maintaining the human population, health, and environment. Mushrooms are a group of saprotrophic fungi. Mushroom cultivation is a dire ct utilization of their ecological role in the bioconversion of solid waste s generated from industry and agriculture into edible biomass, which could also be regarded as a functional flood or as a source of drugs and pharmace uticals. To make the mushroom cultivation an environmentally friendly indus try, the basic biology of mushrooms and the cultivation technology must be researched and developed. This is very true for Lentinula edodes, Volvariel la volvacea, and Ganoderma lucidum, which are commonly consumed in Asian co mmunities but are now gaining popularity worldwide. Besides the conventiona l method, strain improvement can also be exploited by protoplast fusion and transformation. Biodiversity is the key contribution fro the genetic resou rce for breeding programs to fulfill different consumer demands. The conser vation of these mushrooms becomes essential and is in immediate need not on ly because of the massive habitat loss as a result of human inhabitation an d deforestation, but also because of the introduced competition by a cultiv ar with the wild germ plasm, Spent mushroom compost, a bulky solid waste ge nerated from the mushroom industry, however, can be exploited as a soil fer tilizer and as a prospective bioremediating agent.