Water relations of the mushroom culture Agaricus bisporus: Study of a single break

Abstract

The relation between the decrease in moisture content of the casing soil and substrate and the increase of fruit body weight was investigated in cultures of a hybrid strain producing strong first breaks. During fruit body growth, the amount of water extracted from the casing soil was proportional to the weight of the fruit bodies on the culture. To keep the water content of the casing constant under growing conditions with low evaporation, the amount of water given to the casing from primordia formation up to any point in development had to be 44–54% of the weight of the fruit bodies of the culture at that time. The percentage of dry matter of fruit bodies decreased in both watered and unwatered cultures in the course of fruit body growth. Fruit bodies ready for harvesting from watered cultures had a significantly lower dry matter content than those from unwatered cultures. The water supply problems of mushroom cultures with very strong breaks are discussed.