An alternative new casing material in the production of Agaricus bisporus

Abstract

The study was carried out to investigate the effects of using perlite together with vermicompost on yield and quality of white button mushroom. The research was conducted in the climate-controlled mushroom growing room, located in the faculty of agriculture of Akdeniz University. Peat (Control-1) and perlite (Control-2) used as casing soil, liquid vermicompost 1 (L1) (7.6 ml m-2), liquid vermicompost 2 (L2) (15.2 ml m-2), liquid vermicompost 3 (L3) (22.8 ml m-2), solid vermicompost 1 (S1) (366 g m-2), solid vermicompost 2 (S2) (732 g m-2), solid vermicompost 3 (S3) (1098 g m-2), liquid+solid vermicompost 1 (LS1) (3.8 ml m-2 + 183 g m-2), liquid+solid vermicompost 2 (LS2) (7.6 ml m-2 + 366 g m-2), and liquid+solid vermicompost 3 (LS3) (11.4 ml m-2 + 549 g m-2) were applied into perlite as casing material. Parameters such as total mushroom yield, marketable mushroom yield, first two flushes of total yield of mushroom: 1st flush mushroom yield, 2nd flush mushroom yield, 3rd flush mushroom yield, earliness, average fruit weight, dry matter content, L, a* and b* color value were examined. As a result of the research, the highest total yield was obtained from S2 application with a value of 34.85 kg 100 kg-1 compost compared to Control-1. It was determined that liquid, solid and liquid+solid forms of applications mixed with perlite have the most positive effects on mushroom yield, yield was increased and approved an alternative potential to traditional casing soil. Due to the positive results obtained from the research, the results of the research were recorded in a register book on 26/06/2019 and 2019/09514, through an application made to the Turkish Patent Institute.