Evaluation of the Effect of Vermicompost Extract Spray on Growth Indices of Button Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus)

Button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) is grown as a commercial crop throughout the world. It is demonstrated that due to appropriate nutritional quality and high amount of protein button mushroom has special place in world’s population food basket. Growth and production of button mushroomdepend on the nutritionally sufficient of compost preparation. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of different concentrations of vermicompost extract (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%) on growth parameters of button mushroom including number of mushroom, unitary weight, total yield, dry matter content, diameter of pileus, length of stipe, earliness, N percent, protein percent and biological efficiency. Results showed that the addition of different concentrations of vermicompost to compost had a significant difference on the most parameters (P<0.05), although there was a significant delay of 1.8-6.2 days in the harvesting time of the first flush. The best concentrations of vermicompost was 75%, resulting in the greatest number of mushroom (312.5), unitary weight (21.6g), total yield (6.7kg/bag), diameter of pileus (6.1cm) and biological efficiency (67.5%). The highest percentage of N (5.4) and protein (33.7) was found in 100% vermicompost, which had no significant difference with 75% treatment.