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Studies were carried out to evaluate the feasibility of using coffee industry residues, viz. coffee husk, coffee leaves and spent coffee ground as substrates in solid state fermentation (SSF) to cultivate edible mushrooms Pleurotus. Eight strains of Pleurotus ostreatus and two strains of Pleurotus sajor-caju were screened on a medium prepared from aqueous extract of coffee husk and agar. Based on best mycelial growth (9.68 m d d a y ) and biomass production (43.4 mg/plate in 9 days at 24 "C), the strain P. ostreatus LPB 09 was selected for detailed studies. SSF was carried out using these substrates under different moisture conditions (4575%) and spawn rates (2525%). In general, although a 25% spawn rate appeared superior, the 10% spawn rate was recommended for all the three substrates in view of the process economics, as there was not any significant difference in the increase with 10 to 15%. The ideal moisture content for mycelial growth was 6 6 6 5 % for coffee husk and spent coffee ground, and 6 6 7 0 % for coffee leaves. The biological efficiency (BE), which is defined as the ratio of the weight of fresh fruiting bodies to the weight of dry substrate, multiplied by 100, and which indicates the fructification ability of the fungus for utilizing the substrate, was best with coffee husk.With coffee husk as the substrate, the first fructification occurred after 20 days of inoculation, and the biological efficiency reached about 97% after 60 days. When coffee leaves were used as the substrate, no fructification was observed even upon prolonged cultivation. With spent ground as the substrate, the first fructification occurred 23 days after inoculation and the biological efficiency reached about 90% in 50 days. There was a significant decrease in the caffeine and tannin contents (61 and 79%, respectively) of coffee husk after 60 days. It was remarkable to observe that caffeine was adsorbed onto the fruiting body (0.157%). indicating that it was not completely degraded by the fungal culture. However, no tannins were found in the fruiting body, indicating that the fungal strain was capable of degrading them. The results showed the feasibility of using coffee husk and spent coffee ground as substrates without any pre-treatment for the cultivation of edible fungi in SSF, and provided one of the first steps towards an economical utilization of these otherwise unutilized or poorly utilized residues.

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Solid state cultivation (SSC) was carried out to evaluate the feasibility of using coffee husk and spent-ground as