Mycelium-colonized lignocellulose soil amendment for ion retention and nitrogen runoff prevention

Overview

This research proposes a mycology-based soil amendment that uses mycelium-colonized lignocellulose waste to address critical challenges in agricultural soil management. By supplementing soil with fungal-colonized agricultural byproducts and post-consumer textile waste, the approach aims to retain essential ions, prevent nitrogen fertilizer runoff, and improve soil moisture and humus content. The solution offers a dual benefit: enhancing crop productivity while diverting textile waste from landfills through mycoremediation.

Ion depletion in agricultural soils has cascading negative effects on ecosystems, including algal blooms from runoff and humus depletion that drives evaporative water loss and increased irrigation needs. Cellulose-based substrates such as cotton fibers support the growth of beneficial fungi, enabling a fungal-centered approach that simultaneously prevents nutrient loss and creates value from waste streams.

Technical specifications

Key features:

• Uses readily propagatable basidiomycete fungal species, including Pleurotus ostreatus, that thrive on agricultural and cellulose waste products
• Colonizes waste agricultural byproducts and post-consumer textile waste with fungal mycelium
• Perennial persistence of fungal species in soil, confirmed by seasonal fruiting body (mushroom) production
• Elemental analysis using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrophotometric instrumentation to measure phosphorous, nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese, and selenium
• Leachate collection from microporous membranes for ion-retention assessment
• Assays for moisture retention and plant growth potential in supplemented soils

Technology readiness level

Preliminary validation has demonstrated that several basidiomycete fungal species can thoroughly colonize waste agricultural byproducts and post-consumer textile waste. Test plots supplemented with colonized substrates have shown perennial fungal persistence through seasonal fruiting body production. ICP-based elemental recovery and analysis protocols have been confirmed as readily applicable. Future validation will assess ion-retention properties in a model system using mycelium-colonized substrates, measuring leachate composition, moisture retention, and plant growth potential to confirm benefits including perennial persistence, enhanced plant health, and improved crop yield.