Agnieszka Jasińska, Marek Siwulski YIELDING OF AGROCYBE AEGERITA (Brog.) Sing. ON DIFFERENT SAWDUST SUBSTRATE. Agnieszka Jasińska, Marek Siwulski Department of Vegetable Crops, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Dąbrowskiego 159, 60-594 Poznań, Poland MATERIAL AND METHODS High yield and good quality of the carpophores is the most important issue that modern mushroom growers focus on during the cultivation work. Crop commodity is usually done on the sawdust of deciduous trees (Siwulski, Sobieralski 2004, Uhart et al. 2008). Agrocybe aegerita is an edible mushroom characterized by high content of protein, easily digested by human gastrointestinal (Bauer Petrovska, Kulevanova 2000, Yildis et.al. 2005). The taste of the fresh carpophores is mild and makes a very good composition with the poultry and fish dishes, giving them a gentle pork flavor (Stamets 2005). In nature Black poplar mushroom grows in clusters on living and decaying stumps of mostly deciduous trees such as: poplar, willow, black poplar, ash, elderberry, black locust and Brazilian araucaria [Wright, Alberto 2002]. The cap of Agrocybe aegerita is convex, expanding to plane at maturity. Diameter up to 20 cm, yellowish gray to grayish brown, darker towards the center. Gills are at first gray, with spore maturity becoming chocolate brown. Stem is white, adorned with a well developed membranous ring, usually colored brown from spore fall (Uhart, Alberto 2007). SUBSTRATE: birtch and beech sawdust, mixed and moisturized up to 70% of substrate dry matter, placed in polypropylene bottles (600 g capacity) and covered with the plastic lid with 4 ventilation holes and secured with parafilm, sterylized and inoculated with grain mycelium, incubated in 25°C for 4 weeks. STRAIN: AE02, AE05, AE06 and AE11 CULTIVATION CONDITION: 15-17°C primordia formulation initiation; 10 h/d day-light lamps 500 lx. First crop obtained 5 weeks after inoculation. The second flush was obtained after 2 week break. MEASUREMENT: The carpophores were picked up in clusters, no single carpophores are cut out from the sawdust. 10 carprophores of each combination was chosen Total yield per strain and per substrate; waight of single carprophore; cap diameter, stem diameter and lenght. CONCLUSIONS 1. The highest yield was obtained of the strain AE05 and AE06, respectively 74,44 g and 73,39 g; the lowest yield represented AE02 and AE11 (70,77 g and 71,68 g). 2. The best substrate for cultivation of A. aegerita was birch sawdust (72,60 g). It was higher than on the beech sawdust (10,38 g) regardless the strain. 3. Strain AE02 and AE05 characterized with the biggest and heaviest carprophores (3,59g; 3,38g respectively) than the carpophores of strains AE06 (2,48 g) and AE11 (2,06 g). They also appeared to grow the biggest caps. 4. The amount of carpophores in the cluster was bigger within the strains AE06 and AE11. Fig.1 Pic. 1 Pic. 1 Fig.1 Total yield on birtch and beech sawdust Fig. 2 Total yield of four investigated strains of A. aegerita Fig. 3 Average weight of A. aegerita carprophore and hat [g]. Pic. 1 Agrocybe aegerita in the growing chamber (fot . A. Jasińska) Fig. 2 Fig. 3