Cultivation of Mexican wild strains of Agaricus bisporus, the button mushroom, under different growth conditions in vitro and determination of their productivity

Description of the subject. Edible mushrooms cultivation is one of the most important agro-industries in Mexico, showing good impact on food production through a controlled biotechnological process. National production is supported by foreign strains although this region has a great biological diversity in wild mushrooms species with adaptatively advantages to the local environment, but these genetic resources have been few studied, especially for Agaricus species. Objectives. To unravel the potential of wild Mexican strains of Agaricus bisporus for the production of fruiting bodies on compost. Method. The mycelial growth rate of eight A. bisporus strains (two wild, six commercial) in culture media was assessed by supplementing a malt extract medium with yeast extract (YMEA), yeast extract and indulin AT (YMEA-indulin AT), and compost extract (CMEA) at three different incubation temperatures (22, 25 and 28 degrees C). Mycelial growth was evaluated in solid media (mm. day(-1)) and liquid culture (decrease in the phenol content). Four strains (two wild, two commercial) with the best in vitro results were selected to obtain carpophores on compost and evaluate their yields. Results. The highest values of mycelial growth were observed in CMEA and the greatest decrease in phenol content was recorded for YME. Biological efficiencies of the four selected strains were 50.8 to 95.5%, and yields were 7.4 to 14.1 kg.m(-2) in crop cycles of 74 to 98 days. Basidiomes 5 to 15 cm in diameter predominated. Conclusions. The characteristics of the wild strains indicate their suitability for the regional market, but additional experiments are necessary to improve their productivity parameters.