Utilization of distillation waste of sweet potato Shochu lees for Lentinula edodes cultivation

An alternative cultivation medium made from Shochu distillation lees (SDL) was prepared and used to produce Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes). Average weight and average count of mushrooms harvested from the medium prepared were 1.4 times greater than the corresponding average weight and count of mushrooms harvested from the standard medium and other reported conventional substrates. Average weight of harvested mushrooms was the highest when 20% of Shochu distillation lees were added to the substrate medium. In addition, supplementation of the medium with SDL provides growing mushrooms with 1.5 times higher Umami components than the standard medium. By shortening the cultivation period, larger mushrooms can be produced using the substrate medium prepared in this study. The optimal cultivation period for Shiitake mushrooms with 20% SDL added to the growth medium ranged from 75 to 86 days, which is shorter than the regular cultivation period of 95 days needed when the standard medium is used.