Cultivation of Agaricus bisporus on some compost formulas and locally available casing materials. Part II: Waste tea leaves based compost formulas and locally available casing materials
Keywords:
Waste tea leaves, composting process, compost temperature, peat, activator materials.Abstract
Three compost formulas (formula I, formula II, and formula III) based waste tea leaves and using some
activator materials such as wheat bran, chicken manure and pigeon manure were studied for Agaricus
bisporus cultivation. Some locally available peats such as peat of Bolu, peat of Agacbasi, peat of
Caykara and theirs mixture (80:20; volume : volume) with perlite were used. Temperature values of all
compost formulas during composting process were measured to determine the compostability level.
According to results, compost temparature steadily increased until the 8th, 9th, and 9th day of
composting for formula I, formula II, and formula III, respectively. The maximum compost temperature
values were measured for all compost formulas at the second turning stage of composting process.
The highest compost temperature values were measured prepared from a mixture of waste tea leaves
and wheat bran (formula I). The best mushroom yield was obtained by a mixture of waste tea leaves and
pigeon manure with the peat of Caykara and perlite mixture as casing material. Peat of Caykara gave
higher mushroom yield than those of other peats.
