Nutritional Content and Bio-Degradation of Sweet Corn Leaves Using Edible Fungi (Pleurotus pulmonarius)
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Date
2022-12
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Lead City University
Abstract
The need to feed ever-increasing human population created awareness for increased agricultural production thus leading to increased agricultural waste generation. These wastes generated in many developing countries are not properly managed, utilized or under - utilized which constitute serious health threat to human and animals in the environment through environmental pollution resulting into environmental hazards. Agro wastes are rich in nutrient composition such as protein, minerals; consequently they ought to be considered as “raw material” instead of “waste”. Using them as raw materials can help to recycle waste and make the environment eco –friendly through solid state fermentation (SSF) which produces secondary metabolites and essential enzymes and serves as potential substrate to produce value – added products. Biological degradation for both economic and ecological reasons has become the popular alternative for the treatment of agro wastes .Wastes from agricultural residues are used as bioremediation agents, biofuel and bio - control agents through microbial processing which has brought tremendous benefit to agricultural management and eco - system. This study determined the phytochemicals, minerals and vitamins present in sweetcorn leaves and the effect of biodegradation on the leaves. Sweetcorn leaves were collected, dried and milled .Crude protein analysis was carried out on the milled sample using the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) procedure. The crude protein value was 40.82% while the crude fiber was 25.1. The fungi (Pleurotus plumonarious) was introduced into the specimen bottle and kept in the incubator at room temperature for 7, 14, 21 and 40 days, the result was recorded
Keywords; Agro waste, Solid state fermentation, Substrate, Ecosystem, Biological degradation, Bioremediation, Metabolites.
Word count ; 248