Fungal protein for food and feeds v. rice as a source of carbohydrate for the production of fungal protein

Summary

From the foregoing brief account of exploratory work conducted with rice, it is obvious that the carbohydrate of whole brown rice can serve well as a substrate for the synthesis of fungal protein. Thus, usingDactylium dendroides (I-108) as the agent of synthesis, it was possible to increase the total quantity of protein in rice by a factor of 2.29 and, usingTrichoderma sp. (I-193), by a factor of 2.85. In the 1962/63 season, world production of paddy rice was 277,088,000 tons containing about 41 billion pounds of protein. If it is conservatively estimated that protein can be increased by a factor of 2 by a fungus conversion process, then from the 62/63 crop a total of 82 billion pounds of protein could have been produced. Alone, the rice crop contained sufficient protein (on quantitative grounds) to meet the annual requirements of 787 million people whereas the potential existed for supplying the needs of 1.5 billion people—nearly one-half of the present world population. In view of experiences gained with other crude sources of carbohydrate, it seems reasonable to predict that by further search for higher yielding fungi and proper manipulation of environmental conditions a four-fold increase is a distinct possibility.