Cultivation of Agaricus blazei ss. Heinemann using different soils as source of casing materials

Abstract

Commercial productivity of the Agaricus blazei mushroom is closely related to both the quality of the compost and the choice of soil to be used as a casing material. This study aims to evaluate Agaricus blazei's productivity using two compost formulations and three soils. The two compost formulations were (i) crushed sugarcane bagasse (Saccharum officinarum (L.)) and Coastcross hay (Cynidon dactylon (L.) Pers.), and (ii) crushed sugarcane bagasse (Saccharum officinarum (L.)) and corn husk (Zea mays L.); they were amended with wheat bran, lime, gypsum, superphosphate and urea. The casing materials were extracted from three soils classed as Rhodic Hapludox, Xanthic Hapludox, and Humic Haplaquox. The Rhodic Hapludox soil material was mixed with fragments of Eucalyptus charcoal in the proportion of 4:1. The compost was prepared during six weeks and thereafter heat treated during 48 h at the end of the composting period. The sugarcane bagasse:coast-hay compost was superior to the sugarcane bagasse: corn husk compost. The Rhodic Hapludox plus charcoal casing material showed to be a better casing material than either the Xanthic Hapludox and Humic Haplaquox soil materials. The choice of the soils where the casing material is taken is an important factor to the success of the Agaricus blazei mushroom cultivation.

Optimization of the cultivation conditions for mushroom production with European wild strains of Agaricus subrufescens and Brazilian cultivars

“…Rhodic Hapludox/eucalyptus charcoal 4:1 (v/v) led to a better yield of strain CS1 compared with Xanthic Hapludox or Humic Haplaquox soil. 13 In contrast, casing made of peat or shale increased the productivity of ABL-99/26 and ABL-99/29 by 10-20% compared with a mixture of 70% ravine soil/30% charcoal (v/v), 19 and lime schist or peat led to better biological efficiency of the same strains compared with a mixture of subsol/charcoal 7:3 (v/v). 12 In outdoor cultivation, strain BZ-04 showed better yield on a substrate covered with local soil horizon A compared with casing mixtures composed of 30% eucalyptus charcoal/70% local soil horizon B (v/v).…”

“…11 -14 The casing soil composition is important, regardless of the substrate formulation. 13 The physical characteristics of the soil contribute greatly to the mushroom yield. 12 These cultivation conditions are well adapted to tropical countries, although yields are significantly lower than those obtained with A. bisporus, but A. subrufescens might be a seasonal option for mushroom growers in western countries.…”

Spent Mushroom Compost as a Substrate for the Production of Lettuce Seedlings

“…Pers.) hay, 10 kg of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) bran, 1 kg of superphosphate fertilizer, 2 kg of limestone, 2 kg of gypsum, and 1 kg of ammonium sulfate (Siqueira, Souza Dias, Silva, Martos, & Rinker, 2009). The fully colonized substrate was transferred to a mushroom house and maintained under the conditions described by Siqueira, Martos, Silva, & Souza Dias (2011) until the end of the cultivation cycle.…”

Mushroom cultivation in Brazil: challenges and potential for growth

“…However, it is probable that due to different ecological conditions between their origin countries, it is still necessary to develop a proper technology for cultivating this mushroom because its production level is still very low compared to that of A. bisporus . Therefore, several research projects have been developed that aim to find better composting processes and casing layer materials (Silva, E. et al, 2007(Silva, E. et al, , 2009Cavalcante et al, 2008;Siqueira et al, 2009;Colauto et al, 2010), as well as to determine the genetic diversity of different strains used in the country (Colauto et al, 2002;Tomizawa et al, 2007). Besides this research, this species also probably has a life cycle different from classic dicariotic basidiomycetes, which makes it an excellent research system for elucidating the sexual behavior of atypical basidiomycetes (Dias et al, 2008).…”