Optimisation of button mushroom cultivation through locally available substrates under Kashmir conditions

Abstract

Six agro bye products which include wheat straw, paddy straw, corn straw, paddy husk and typha grass were evaluated as base substrates for button mushroom production, keeping the other ingredients constant for all substrates. Colonization occurred in all types of compost The maximum yield (9.76 kg mushroom per qt compost was recorded in wheat straw and minimum (6.69 kg mushroom per qt compost) in soybean straw and other substrates being statistically identical with it. Average no of fruit bodies per kilogram mushroom, single fruit body weight, pileus and stipe diameter were statistically identical in all treatments. Thus all the above locally and easily available agro-wastes can be successfully utilized for button mushroom production in different regions of the valley.