The Effect of Vitamin C and B Treatments on Button Mushroom Yield and Postharvest Life

 Agaricus bisporus is the important mushroom that is cultivated industrially and due to its medicinal properties, it has special nutritional importance in the food basket of the people of the world. It is predicted that with increasing population and changing consumption patterns, food will be one of the most critical issues in the country soon and protein poverty will be one of the most critical leading crises. Mushroom can be the best choice for the supply of essential human protein because they produce protein-rich foods using agricultural waste. Mushrooms are also rich sources of essential amino acids, vitamins (B2, niacin and folate), and minerals. White button mushroom production accounts for about 35% of the total world production of edible mushroom. The production of edible mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) depends on planting, amount of spawn consumed, growing conditions, species and media of cultivated edible mushroom.
 The present study aims to investigate the effect of vitamins B and C on growth, yield of button mushroom and its postharvest life. The study was performed in two separate experiments in the mushroom factory and storage. The experiment was performed in the mushroom factory located in Khomeini Shahr city of Isfahan province and experiments related to the laboratory section and the research laboratories of the Faculty of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology. In this study, a box culture system was used to grow mushrooms. For this purpose, in order to prepare the culture media and prevent the mixing of culture media containing different treatments, cardboard plastic was used to make the boxes. First, in order to eliminate the pathogens, tiram fungicide is used for 24 hours. Cartonoplasts were then placed at specific distances of 30 cm by 30 cm. To eliminate pathogens, the composts were steamed in an autoclave at 121 ° C at a pressure of 1.34 atmospheres for 15 minutes and boarded and treatments were applied. Treatments include 3 levels of vitamin C (0, 3 and 6 mg / kg) (C0, C1 and 2C), 3 levels of vitamin B (0, 0.5 and 1 mg / kg) (B0, B1 and B2) was performed by factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with 4 replications (40). Vitamin B complex, including vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12 and B9 were prepared in a ratio of 1: 2: 2: 5: 4. The treatments were applied to the composts used in the bed after boarding and before applying topsoil. When the mushrooms reached the commercial harvest level, i.e., the cap was 2.5 to 8 cm, but the cap was not opened, the factors related to vegetative growth were measured as follows. The number of mushrooms during the harvest period was counted for all treatments and at the end of the period, the average number of mushrooms per unit area was calculated. Cap diameter and base of each fungus were measured with a caliper during the harvest period for all mushrooms. In order to estimate yield, the mushroom harvested daily were weighed from all replications of each treatment.
 The results showed that the nutritional supplements used in this study were effective in increasing vegetative growth and yield and the highest number of mushrooms and dry weight were related to vitamin treatment. The interaction effect of vitamin C and vitamin B on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of edible mushrooms at harvest time showed that dry weight increased at C1 and C2 with increasing concentration of B2 and decreased at C0. Cap diameter increased at all concentrations of vitamin C with increasing concentration of B2 and C2 had the highest amount. Base diameter was highest in C1 with increasing all concentrations of B vitamins compared to other treatments and lowest in C2 with concentration of B0. Ion leakage in C2 increased with increasing concentration of B2 and decreased in C0 and C1. The number of mushroom in C1 and C2 decreased with the addition of vitamin B and the highest number in C2 increased with the concentration of B0. The weight of grade 2 at C0 and C1 decreased with increasing concentrations of B2 and B1, respectively. Total yield was increased at all concentrations of vitamin C using B1. The highest total yield was observed in C1 treatment with B2 application. Total performance in control and C2 treatment decreased with increasing B2. Harvest time hardness increased in all three vitamin C treatments by increasing the concentration of B1, but increasing the concentration of B2 compared to B1 decreased. The highest increase was observed in the control treatment of vitamin C and the highest decrease was observed in the treatment of C2. Harvest time whiteness increased in C0 and C2 with the addition of vitamin B and decreased in C1. In general, in the control treatment of vitamin C in the two concentrations of B1 and B2, the highest amount of whitening time was observed. The highest amount of ash was observed in C2 with B2 application. In the postharvest experiment, the highest hardness after 32 days of storage was related to vitamin B treatment and the highest postharvest hardness, postharvest whiteness, and whiteness after 32 days of storage were related to vitamin C treatment. Also, the results of comparing the mean of interactions showed that the total yield in all three vitamin B treatments increased with the application of 3 mg/kg. The results of the second experiment showed that the rate of water loss in C1 with the addition of B2 concentration was the highest and in the control treatment was the lowest. The hardness increased after 32 days of storage in the control treatment and C2 with the application of B1, but decreased in C1 and C2 with the use of B2. The highest amount of whiteness was observed in C1 after 32 days of storage by increasing the concentration of C1, which was not statistically significant with the control treatment. It seems that there is not much difference between different concentrations of vitamin C in vegetative and postharvest fungal traits, but better results have been obtained by increasing the concentration of vitamin B. The results indicate that the effect of supplements on the yield of edible mushrooms is different so that adding appropriate amounts of supplements to the culture medium significantly increases crop yield. The results of this study showed that vitamin C1 treatment resulted in the highest dry and total weight, cap diameter, base diameter, and number of mushrooms. Wetter and drier cap and base diameters, ion leakage and water loss, were the highest in vitamin B2 treatment.