Factors Influencing the Agaritine Content in Cultivated Mushrooms, Agaricus bisporus

Agaritine concentrations were determined in fresh mushrooms grown from various spawn strains on several compost types and harvested at different phases of the cropping cycle. A wild spawn strain produced mushrooms with approximately two times the agaritine content of seven other more commercially important types. Mushrooms harvested from a synthetic compost produced significantly higher amounts of agaritine than five other compost types. Additionally, mushrooms harvested later in the cropping cycle were more likely to have higher agaritine levels compared to earlier harvested mushrooms. Agaritine was also present in the mycelium of Agaricus bisporus growing in liquid culture, but at much lower levels than present in the fruiting bodies.