Sains Malaysiana 55(5)(2026): 878-888

http://doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2026-5505-10

 

Enhanced Mushroom Cultivation Using Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Waste: Insights from Transcriptomic and Lignocellulose Degradation Studies

(Peningkatan Hasil Pengkulturan Cendawan Menggunakan Tandan Kosong Kelapa Sawit: Pemerhatian daripada Kajian Transkriptomik dan Penguraian Lignoselulosa)

 

ASLIZAH MOHD-ARIS^1,*, NUR FARIHA AMIR², AMATUL HAMIZAH ALI³, MD. ALI AMATUL-SAMAHAH⁴, FARIDA ZURAINA MOHD YUSOF^5,6 & RONI PAZLA⁷

 

¹School of Biology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Negeri Sembilan Branch, Kuala Pilah Campus, 72000 Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

²Central Research Laboratories, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

³Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

⁴Fisheries Research Institute Glami Lemi, Titi, 71650 Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

⁵Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

⁶Integrative Pharmacogenomics Institute (iPromise), Universiti Teknologi MARA Selangor Branch, Puncak Alam Campus, 42300 Bandar Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

⁷Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology, Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Andalas, Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia

 

Diserahkan: 4 Mac 2025/Diterima: 7 Mei 2026

 

Abstract

Volvariella volvacea is a nutritional and pharmacologically valuable tropical mushroom. Yet, its potential as a sustainable food source and bioremediation agents remains underutilised. This study evaluated the efficiency of oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) as a lignocellulosic substrate to enhance the growth and biological efficiency (BE) of V. volvacea. Among the tested formulations, F3 (OPEFB supplemented with black soil) produced the highest yield (11 kg) and a BE of 17.75%. F3 also showed a high cellulose degradation rate (34.14%) and reduced lignin content (5.55%). Transcriptomic profiling showed that key lignocellulolytic genes were strongly expressed during the pinhead (Stage 1) developmental stage, correlating positively with the improved substrate conversion observed in F3. Overall, the findings highlight the synergistic interaction between fungal and soil-associated microbial communities in promoting enzymatic degradation and advancing sustainable utilisation of OPEFB for mushroom cultivation.

Keywords: Agricultural waste valorization; bioeconomy; empty fruit bunch fibre; Volvariella volvacea

 

Abstrak

Volvariella volvaceaialah cendawan tropika yang mempunyai nilai nutrisi dan farmakologi yang tinggi. Namun, potensinya sebagai sumber makanan lestari dan agen bioremediasi masih belum dimanfaatkan sepenuhnya. Kajian ini menilai keberkesanan tandan kosong kelapa sawit (OPEFB) sebagai substrat lignoselulosa untuk meningkatkan pertumbuhan dan kecekapan biologi (BE) V. volvacea. Daripada semua formulasi yang diuji, F3 (OPEFB yang ditambah tanah hitam) menghasilkan hasil tertinggi (11 kg) dan BE sebanyak 17.75%. F3 juga menunjukkan kadar degradasi selulosa yang tinggi (34.14%) dan kandungan lignin yang rendah (5.55%). Profil transkriptomik menunjukkan bahawa gen lignoselulolitik utama diekspreskan dengan ketara pada peringkat pinhead (Peringkat 1) dan pengekspresan ini berkait rapat dengan peningkatan kecekapan penukaran substrat yang diperhatikan dalam F3. Secara keseluruhannya, keputusan ini menonjolkan interaksi sinergistik antara kulat dan komuniti mikrob tanah dalam merangsang degradasi enzim dan memajukan penggunaan OPEFB secara lestari untuk penanaman cendawan.

Kata kunci: Bioekonomi; peningkatan nilai sisa pertanian; tandan buah kelapa sawit kosong (OPEFB); Volvariella volvacea

 

RUJUKAN

Ahlawat, O.P. & Tewari, R.P. 2007. Cultivation Technology of Paddy Straw Mushroom (Volvariella volvacea). Vol. 36. Solan, India: National Research Centre for Mushroom.

Alam, N. & Singha, S.M. 2020. Effects of composition, age and sterilization techniques of mother culture on the growth and yield of Volvariella volvacea (Bull.) Singer. Bangladesh Journal of Botany 49(2): 387-393.

Amir, N.F., Mohd-Aris, A., Tuan-Zakaria, T.N., Umor, N.A., Mohamad, A., Mohd Razali, N., Mohd Yusof, F.Z. & Abdullah, S. 2025. Effect of physiochemical parameters on yield and biological efficiency of Volvariella volvacea cultivated on empty fruit bunch pellets. Heliyon 11: e42572.

Choudhary, M., Dhanda, S., Kapoor, S. & Soni, G. 2009. Lignocellulolytic enzyme activities and substrate degradation by Volvariella volvacea, the paddy straw mushroom. Indian Journal of Agricultural Research 43(3): 223-226.

Dolah, R., Karnjanakom, S., Kasim, F.H. & Abdul Razak, N.A. 2021. A comprehensive review on biofuels from oil palm empty fruit bunch. Sustainability 13(18): 10210.

Goering, H.K. & Van Soest, P.J. 1970. Forage Fiber Analyses. Agriculture Handbook No. 379. Washington, DC: Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Gruninger, R.J., Wang, Y., Abbott, D.W. & McAllister, T.A. 2023. Identification of genes involved in the degradation of lignocellulose by anaerobic fungi using transcriptomics. Methods in Molecular Biology 2670: 327-342.

Kukurba, K.R. & Montgomery, S.B. 2015. RNA sequencing and analysis. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols 2015(11): pdb.top084970.

Liu, Q., Liu, H., Chen, C., Wang, J., Han, Y. & Long, Z. 2017. Effects of element complexes containing Fe, Zn and Mn on artificial morel’s biological characteristics and soil bacterial community structures. PLoS ONE 12(3): e0174618.

Mahardika, M., Abral, H., Kasim, A. & Asrofi, M. 2024. Recent developments in oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber composite: A review. Journal of Natural Fibers 21(1): 2309915.

Mondylaksita, K., Aparamarta, H.W., Triwahyuni, E. & Hidayat, M. 2020. Recovery of high purity lignin and digestible cellulose from oil palm empty fruit bunch using acid-catalyzed organosolv pretreatment. Agronomy 10(5): 674.

Nannapaneni, K.K. & Subbiah, K.A. 2016. Influence of organic nitrogen supplementation on yield of paddy straw mushroom, Volvariella volvacea (Bull. ex Fr.) Sing. International Journal of Green Pharmacy 10(4): 237-241.

Noble, R., Dobrovin-Pennington, A. & Hobbs, P.J. 2009. Fruiting stimulation of the edible mushroom Agaricus bisporus by Pseudomonas putida. Mycologia 101(3): 287-295.

Payapanon, A., Suthirawut, S., Shompoosang, S., Tsuchiya, K., Furuya, N., Roongrawee, P., Kulpiyawat, T. & Somrith, A. 2011. Increase in yield of the straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) by supplement with Paenibacillus and Bacillus to the compost. Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University 56(2): 249-254.

Pazla, R., Jamarun, N., Agustin, F., Zain, M., Arief & Cahyani, N.O. 2020. Effects of supplementation with phosphorus, calcium and manganese during oil palm frond fermentation by Phanerochaete chrysosporium on ligninase enzyme activity. Biodiversitas 21(5): 1833-1838. DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d210509. 

Triyono, S., Haryanto, A., Telaumbanua, M., Dermiyati, Lumbanraja, J. & To, F. 2019. Cultivation of straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) on oil palm empty fruit bunch growth medium. International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture 8: 381-392.

Xie, Z., Li, Z. & Zhang, H. 2022. Transcriptome analysis of Volvariella volvacea reveals genes involved in lignocellulose degradation and sugar metabolism. BMC Genomics 23: 345.

Yan, D., Mills, J.G., Gellie, N.J., Bissett, A., Lowe, A.J. & Breed, M.F. 2018. High-throughput eDNA monitoring of fungi to track functional recovery in ecological restoration. Biological Conservation 217: 113-120.

Zhang, Y., Liu, D. & Zhao, C. 2023. KEGG-based pathway analysis of Volvariella volvacea for lignocellulose degradation. Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 15(1): 25-34.

 

*Pengarang untuk surat-menyurat; email: aslizah@uitm.edu.my