Vol. 8, Issue 2 (2019)

Author(s):
Mehakpreet Kaur, Sukhmandeep Kaur, Rajni Devi and S Kapoor

Abstract:
Compost is the result of decomposition process governed by a number of micro-organisms that produce important chemical and biological reactions thereby making it selective for A. bisporus. Wheat straw and maize stalks based compost was prepared in different ratios viz. 1:1 and 2:1 and compared with standard wheat straw based compost for the cultivation of Agaricus bisporus. The physiochemical characters of these compost formulations revealed their pH, temperature, moisture and C/N to be within the range of 7.0-7.9, 75ËšC-42ËšC, 74%-62% and 19:1- 20.33:1 respectively. Proximate analysis of compost at five mushroom cultivation stages indicated a statistical reduction in neutral detergent fiber (67.4%-33.31%), acid detergent fiber (53.1%-27.84%), ash content (25.3%-12.87%) and crude protein (15.24%-8.46%).The cellulose and hemicelluloses content also showed a gradual decline up to pinhead stage. There was no significant change in lignin content in all the compost. The yield data indicated that wheat straw + maize stalk 2:1 with 15.8 Kg/q compost was at par with the wheat straw based control yield indicating that maize stalk can be safely used with wheat straw at 2:1 ratio without affecting the mushroom yield potential.