Cultivation of white Button Mushroom

WHITE BUTTON MUSHROOM

White button mushroom,Agaricus bisporus tiny thumbnail sized mushrooms with smooth rounded caps and short truncated stems.
Depending on when they are harvested they are either stark white in color or earthern brown like acrimini mushroom.
Their flavour is mild when raw and more fragnant and meaty when cooked.

Systematic position
• Kingdom: Fungi
• Phylum: Basidiomycota
• Class: Agaricomycetes
• Order: Agaricales
• Family: Agaricaceae
• Genus: Agaricus
• Species: A.bisporus

Mushrooms are 90% water and virtually calorie free.
They are also rich in
1)Potassium
2)Selenium
3)Protein
and cancer preventing antioxidants.

Button mushrooms may be eated fresh or cooked.
Their small size makes them ideal for skewers, serving whole in soups and stews or salads.
They take on the flavour of other ingredients well;pair with strong cheeses, herbs,meats, wines or cream based sauces.

Geography/History
-The first documented cultivation of Agaricus bisporus was made by French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in 1707.
– Modern commercial production of white button mushroom is an intricate process that starts with careful preparation of nutritionally rich compost material, seeding the compost with mushroom spores and careful monitoring the temperature and humidity of grow houses.

Cultivation
1) Spawning and spawn run
2) Casing and case run
3) Case run and pin head formation

Spawning and spawn run

• Good quality compost with temperature of 25 degree celcius
• Mixing of grain based spawn of A.bisporus under clean conditions(i.e. with clean hands and presterilised area)
• Filling of spawned compost into polythene bags(12-15’’ depth) or beds(6-8’’ depth)
• Little compressing and levelling of spawned compost.
• Loosley closing the mouth of polythene bags filled with spawned compost(covering with a clean news paper/plastic sheet)
• Shifting the compost filled bags in cropping rooms with a
• Temperature:23± 1°C
• RH:95%
• CO2 concentration:1.0-1.5% and keeping the bags under above conditions for 12-14 days.then completion of spawn run(change of dark brown compost into light brown colour).

Use of fresh pure culture spawn

* Proper treatment of spawning area and tools with formalin and cleaning of hnds with dettol.
*Maintaining good hygienic conditiond during spaawning by keeping all the doors and windows closed.

CASING AND CASE RUN
* Casing is a 3-4 thick layer of soil applied on the top of spawn run compost and is a prerequisite for fructification in A.bisporus.
* Presently peat is the most desirable casing material world wide with excellent mushroom yields and superior fruit body quality.
* However it is not available in india. So other alternative recommended materials are,
* Well decomposed Farm Yard Manure (FYM) preferably two years old.
* Well decomposed Spent Mushroom Compost(SMC).
* Paper industry wastes

Quality of casing material
* Soft texture
* Light weight
* High water holding capacity
* High porosity
* Deficient in available form of C and N
* Neutral pH (7.0-7.5)
* Low conductivity (400-600 µ moh) Casing application
* Unfold the fully spawn run bag and make the top surface even by gentle pressing with hands.
* Light spray of water on spawn run compost.
* Application of 4-5cm thick layer of casing uniformly using iron rings of 4cm height or wooden blocks.
* Water spray in installments immediately after casing application.Case run and pinhead formation

• Case run is done at a temperature of 24± 1˚C, RH-95% and Co2>7500 ppm.
• There is no requirement for fresh air introducton during case run.
• After case run, the environmental conditions are changed by bringing down the
• temperature :15-17 ˚C
• RH-85% Co2:800-1000 ppm
• This change in environmental parameters induces pinhead formation in 3-4 days.
• Pinhead————–solid button shaped mushroom.(after 3-4 days).
• Protein rich supplements such as cotton seed meal, soybean meal, feather meal etc. are used to increase the mushroom yield. Harvesting and after care
•Mushrooms with 4-5cm dia., with hard pileus and closed veil are ready for the harvest.
• Mushrooms are harvested by holding them between forefinger and thumb and rotating in clockwise 0r anticlockwise direction.
• The soiled stem portion is cut with sharp knife and are collected in gradewise in baskets.
• Button mushroom can be stored at 4 ˚C for a few days without any deterioration in its quality butit is desirable to consume/market fresh mushrooms.
• The properly processed mushrooms stay in good condition for over a period of 1 year.
• It is possible to transport cannedmushrooms over longer distances without any deterioration in their quality.
• But fresh mushrooms can only transported short distances in refrigerated vans by air to reach up to a remunerative market.