Environmental assessment of the degradation potential of mushroom fruit bodies of Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.: Fr.) P. Kumm. towards synthetic azo dyes and contaminating effluents collected from textile industries in Karnataka, India Sinosh Skariyachan & Apoorva Prasanna & Sirisha P. Manjunath & Soujanya S. Karanth & Ambika Nazre Received: 9 July 2015 /Accepted: 20 January 2016 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 Abstract Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.: Fr.) P. Kumm. is one of the edible mushrooms currently gaining attention as environmental restorer. The present study explores the potential of P. ostreatus (Jacq.: Fr.) P. Kumm. in degradation of textile dyes and effluents. The mushroom cultivation was carried out using paddy bed as substrate. The fully grown mushroom fruit bodies were used as a bioremediation agent against two industrially important azo dyes such as nylon blue and cotton yellow and few effluents collected from various textile industries in Karnataka, India. The ideal growth parameters such as temperature, pH, and dye concentrations for effective degradation were carried out. One of the main enzymes, laccase, responsible for biodegradation, was partially characterized. The degradation was found to be ideal at pH 3.0 and temperature at 26–28 °C. This study demonstrated a percentage degradation of 78.10, 90.81, 82.5, and 64.88 for dye samples such as nylon blue (50 ppm), cotton yellow (350 ppm), KSIC efflu- ents, and Ramanagar effluents at 28 °C within 15th days respectively in comparison with other temperature conditions. Similarly, a percentage degradation of 35.99, 33.33, 76.13 and 25.8 for nylon blue (50 ppm), cotton yellow (350 ppm), Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation (KSIC) effluents and Ramnagar effluents were observed at pH 3.0 within 15 days, respectively (p <0.05). Thus, the current study concluded that the utilization of P. ostreatus (Jacq.: Fr.) P. Kumm. at ideal environmental conditions is a cost-effective and eco- friendly approach for the degradation of various azo dyes and textile effluents which are harmful to the ecosystem. Keywords Edible mushroom . Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.: Fr.) P. Kumm . Ideal environmental conditions . Eco-friendly approaches . Bioremediation agent . Textile azo dyes Introduction The textile industries are chemically intensive industries and became primary polluters of ecosystem (Murthy et al. 2014). Dyeing and finishing sectors of the textile industry has caused a huge pollution which accounts for 17 to 20 % of industrial water pollution (Kant 2012). During the process of dyeing, about 10 to 20 % of dyes do not stick to fabric and are released into water which leads to high biological and chemical oxygen demands, strong color, and variable pH (Murthy et al. 2014). Nearly 10,000 garment manufacturers and 2100 bleaching and dyeing industries are located in different Environ Monit Assess (2016) 188:121 DOI 10.1007/s10661-016-5125-6 S. Skariyachan (*) : A. Prasanna : S. P. Manjunath : S. S. Karanth : A. Nazre Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Dayananda Sagar Institutions, Bangalore 560078, India e-mail: sinoshskariya@gmail.com S. Skariyachan : A. Prasanna : S. P. Manjunath : S. S. Karanth : A. Nazre Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi, Karnataka, India