The Improvement of Pleuorotus Species Cultivated On Soybean Straw Bed Supplemented with Flax Seed Meal

Mushrooms are rich sources of nutraceuticals and are known for antioxidant, antitumor, antimicrobial properties. Flax, Linumusitatissimum, is a unique plant having a rich combination of fat, protein and dietary fibre, which constitute approximately 40 %, 20 % and 28 % respectively. Flax oil is the richest source of ALA (50-60 %), the parent compound of -3 fatty acids. Soybean straw bed supplemented with flaxseed meal (10 % to50 % dry weight) was used as potential raw material to improve nutritional quality of mushrooms. The maximum protein content of 44.268g % was obtained in fruiting bodies produced when soybean straw was supplanted with 20 % flax seed meal (on dry weight basis). Fatty acid profile analysis suggests that mushroom species could not bioconvert flax ALA into Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA).