Abstract:
The research was designed to study antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Pleurotus ostreatus as one of the most common edible oyster mushroom in Egypt and around the world. Mushroom spawns cultivation, maturity growth and fruiting bodies harvesting, and different chemical analysis were performed. Antimicrobial activity of petroleum ether, methanol and acetone extracts of mushroom were tested against various pathogenic bacteria (5 gram +ve and 4 gram –ve species) and 5 pathogenic yeast species in addition to different antioxidant activities. Moisture content ranged between 84.3- 88.5% with 86.0% as average. Total carbohydrates was 101.97 g/kg, total proteins was 166.09g/kg, total lipids was 2.64 g/ kg and fiber was 42,60mg/kg, while ash ranged between 70- 80%. Minerals analysis showed that Zn was 90mg/100g, Mg 1175 mg/100g, Fe 17.9 mg/100g, Mn 1.5mg/100g and Ca 345mg/100g. Methanol extract, acetone extract followed by petroleum ether extract showed different degrees of inhibition against pathogenic microorganisms tested. On the other hand, antioxidant examination revealed that methanol extract of Pleurotus ostreatus antioxidant content was so high that β-carotene-linoleic acid content was 11.9 mg/kg, total phenol was 1390.04 mg/kg and reducing power was 52.52 µM TE /mg as antioxidant agents.