Production of a liquid inoculum/spawn of Agaricus bisporus

Abstract

The production of a homogeneous liquid culture of mushroom mycelium with a high density of viable inoculum points is a prerequisite for the adaptation of the liquid culture technology to the mushroom spawn production process. Homogenisation proved unsuitable as a technique to produce a morphology of this nature because of the shear sensitive nature of Agaricus bisporus. To overcome this limitation, a homogeneous culture was produced by exposing culture flasks to alternating periods of shear stress (300 rpm on a shaker table for 60 min day⁻¹) and recovery (23 h day⁻¹ under static conditions).