Citation: Budzy ´ nska, S.; Siwulski, M.; Budka, A.; Kalaˇ c,P.; Niedzielski, P.; G˛ asecka, M.; Mleczek, M. Mycoremediation of Flotation Tailings with Agaricus bisporus. J. Fungi 2022, 8, 883. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/jof8080883 Academic Editors: Miha Humar and Ivan Širi´ c Received: 24 July 2022 Accepted: 18 August 2022 Published: 22 August 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Fungi Journal of Article Mycoremediation of Flotation Tailings with Agaricus bisporus Sylwia Budzy ´ nska 1, * , Marek Siwulski 2 , Anna Budka 3 , Pavel Kalaˇ c 4 , Przemyslaw Niedzielski 5 , Monika G ˛ asecka 1 and Miroslaw Mleczek 1 1 Department of Chemistry, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 75, 60-625 Pozna´ n, Poland 2 Department of Vegetable Crops, Poznan University of Life Sciences, D ˛ abrowskiego 159, 60-594 Pozna ´ n, Poland 3 Department of Mathematical and Statistical Methods, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 28, 60-637 Pozna´ n, Poland 4 Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, University of South Bohemia, 370 04 ˇ Ceské Budˇ ejovice, Czech Republic 5 Faculty of Chemistry, Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna´ n, Uniwersytetu Pozna ´ nskiego 8, 61-614 Pozna ´ n, Poland * Correspondence: sylwia.budzynska@up.poznan.pl; Tel.: +48-61-848-7849; Fax: +48-61-848-7824 Abstract: Due to their enzymatic and bioaccumulation faculties the use of macromycetes for the decontamination of polluted matrices seems reasonable for bioremediation. For this reason, the aim of our study was to evaluate the mycoremediation ability of Agaricus bisporus cultivated on compost mixed with flotation tailings in different quantities (1, 5, 10, 15, and 20% addition). The biomass of the fruit bodies and the content of 51 major and trace elements were determined. Cultivation of A. bisporus in compost moderately polluted with flotation tailings yielded significantly lower (the first flush) and higher (the second flush) biomass of fruit bodies, compared with the control treatment. The presence of toxic trace elements did not cause any visible adverse symptoms for A. bisporus. Increasing the addition of flotation tailings to the compost induced an elevated level of most determined elements. A significant increase in rare earth elements (both flushes) and platinum group elements (first flush only) was observed. The opposite situation was recorded for major essential elements, except for Na and Mg in A. bisporus from the second flush under the most enriched compost (20%). Nevertheless, calculated bioaccumulation factor values showed a selective accumulation capacity—limited for toxic elements (except for Ag, As, and Cd) and the effective accumulation of B, Cu, K, and Se. The obtained results confirmed that A. bisporus can be used for practical application in mycoremediation in the industry although this must be preceded by larger-scale tests. This application seems to be the most favorable for media contaminated with selected elements, whose absorption by fruiting bodies is the most efficient. Keywords: accumulation; basidiomycete; bioremediation; champignon; common mushroom; edible mushroom; sludge; toxic elements; wastes 1. Introduction Mycoremediation as a form of bioremediation may be an effective, eco-friendly tech- nique for decontamination of polluted environmental matrices because of its simplicity and highly efficient implementation process [1–7]. It is also one of the least costly forms of remediation, and both micromycetes and macromycetes may be used [8,9]. Fungi- mediated remediation as a cost-effective method may use mycelium to effectively secrete extracellular enzymes, finally transforming organic pollutants into non-toxic compounds (bioaugmentation) or accumulating toxic elements [10–12]. There are numerous literature data about biodegradation, bioconversion, or biosorp- tion for the degradation of common pollutants using different mushroom species [13,14]. Biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Tram- etes versicolor, Pleurotus ostreatus, and P. eryngii; pesticides and herbicides by Botryosphaeria J. Fungi 2022, 8, 883. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8080883 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jof