In vivo Evaluation of the Proteins in the Cultivated Mushrooms

Abstract

Chemical and biological assays were performed with freeze-dried samples of the cultivated mushroom A. brunnescens. Dried fruitbodies were subjected to proximate analysis and protein, carbohydrates, fat, moisture, ash, and amino acid contents were determined. The mushroom fruitbodies were found to contain 39.5% protein, 2.0% fat, 39.2% carbohydrates and 9.5% ash, on dry weight basis. Furthermore, the amino acid analysis showed that mushroom contains all the essential amino acids, and the limiting amino acid is methionine, with an amino acid score of 51.2. Diets containing 10% mushroom protein resulted in Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) of 1.5 and Net Protein Ratio (NPR) of 0.74, compared with values for casein of 2.7% and 2.4%, respectively. No significant differences were observed between the weights of the pancreas, spleen and livers of the mushroom protein-fed rats and casein-fed rats. In addition, mushroom was found to be a good source of protein, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin C.