Fungi cultivation in the circular economy

Sistem krožnega gospodarstva nam omogoča, da zaključene tokove biomase in energije povežemo v krožen sistem, ki izrabljene ali stranske produkte, ki jih pogosto razumemo kot odpadke, vedno znova pretvori v izdelek z dodano vrednostjo. Bistvo sistema je optimizirana raba virov energije in minimiziran negativen vpliv na okolje. Glive so s svojo sposobnostjo razkroja predvsem lignoceluloznih materialov pomemben vezni člen opisanega sistema, še posebej na področjih agroživilstva, gozdne in lesne industrije. Njihova uporabnost se kaže na področju pridobivanja gradbenih in pakirnih materialov, kemikalij, krme, proizvodnji pohištva, biogoriv, tekstila in hrane. Velik del uporabe gliv v krožnem sistemu zajema gojenje gob, ki se lahko dokaj enostavno vpelje v gozdni ali agroživilski obrat, kar bi lahko bilo tudi na Slovenskih tleh velikega pomena. Izrabljen substrat se lahko po želenem številu obrodov uporabi kot substrat za gojenje drugih vrst gob, dodatek k živalski krmi, v proizvodnji biogoriv, biokompozitov, encimov ali se kompostira. Med tem ko osnovni postopek gojenja v grobem ostaja enak, poznavanje specifik gojenja posameznih gliv pogosto igra ključno vlogo pri zagotavljanju uspeha. Potencialnih možnostih uporabe gliv v sistemu rožnega gospodarstva je veliko. Kljub temu da je v nekaterih primerih potrebno premostiti še določene tehnološke, ekonomske ali regulatorne ovire, glive ostajajo pomemben povezovalni del sistema krožnega gospodarstva.The system of circular economy enables making connections between individual biomass and energy flows into a network, which allows used or side products and waste to become (again) a useful product. Mere essence of described system is using all of the energy and biomass resources in a sustainable way, including environmental awarness. With their ability to decompose lignocelulosic matter, fungi play a very important role in connecting side chains from different origins of the system. This is especially evident when observing agricultural, food, and wood industry. Fungi are opening a broad range of options in acquiring packiging and building materials, chemicals, furniture, biofules production, production of textile, feed and food. Mushroom cultivation engages in a great part of forestry and agricultural plants as well as in food industry activities, but its limits are far away yet to be reached. That being said, cultivating mushrooms could take an inportatnt position also in Slovenia. After desired number of waves of fruiting, spent mushrooms substrate (SMS) can be used as a substrate for breeding other species of fungi, as feed supplement, for biofuel production, biocomposites, enzyme extraction or simply compost to become a nutricional addition to soil. Meanwhile the basic procedure of cultivationg mishrooms stays generally the same, knowing specifics of each individual species may often well be the key to success. There are many open options for using fungi in the system of circular economy. Regardless some technical, economic or regulatory obstacles that need to be overcome, the kingdom of fungi is still a very important source of connective parts of the sistem of circular economy