EVALUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH YIELDING HYBRIDS BY MYCELIAL ANASTOMOSIS IN AGARICUS BITORQUIS

The germplasm consisting of seven distinct strains of Agaricus bitorquis has been evaluated for yield, quality and natural incidence of false truffle, Diehliomyces microsporus, for selection of Suitable parental lines. The selection and development of new and improved strains of the commercial mushroom, Agaricus bitorquis is an open-ended approach towards better production. The strains NCB-6 and NCB-15 have been introduced as superior yielders. But the sporophore weight, pileus diameter and pileus weight in these strains are less significant than other strains.

The paper presents the formation of mushroom hybrids by the production of fertile culture resulting from the pairing of monosporous sterile culture. It may therefore be possible to produce vegetative hybrids by mycelial anastomosis, which combine desirable characteristics of two or more parental strains.