Transcript

Agaricus bitorquis is widespread in nature. This species grows at higher temperatures than the strain of Agaricus bisporus. Besides, it is resistant to the virus that causes the dreaded dieback and it is resistant to pressure and bruising.

As many mushroom farmers have the problem of cooling down the fruiting rooms during the summer, we look at the effect of high temperatures on the mycelial growth rate of Agaricus bitorquis.

The samples a, b, c, d, and e were cultivated on malt extract agar and incubated at 30°C, 32°C, 34°C, 36°C, and 38°C. For the first growth period, compost bags were inoculated, covered, and incubated between 30°C and 38°C, with a relative humidity of 90%.

For the second growth period, which started after the mycelium thoroughly colonized the compost bags, the surface of the compost bags was covered with 3 to 3.5 cm thick disinfected soil. The humidity was kept between 90 to 95% while maintaining the temperature at 28°C.

After the mycelium thoroughly colonized the casing layer, the temperature was decreased to 23°C.

The harvested mushrooms were analyzed by measuring cap width, cap thickness, stalk lengths and stalk thickness. All five groups showed for these parameters a similar pattern.

The more interesting finding was that the incubation period started at 30°C already after 12 hours. But with increasing the temperature, the incubation period gets further and further delayed. Besides, the differences between the five strains appeared more and more dominant. Here, the last incubation started after 15 days if the mycelium was incubated at 36°C. No growth could be found at 38°C.

While knowing that you can grow mushrooms at 36°C, it is also essential to know how your ventilation system will influence the growth of your mushroom. You will find more about this topic in the video on the right.

Talk to you there.

Source

📝GULER, P., ERGENE, A., & TAN, S. (2006). Production of high temperature-resistant strains of Agaricus bitorquis. African Journal of Biotechnology , 5(8), 615-619. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJB06.100, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/