Cultivation of Agaricus blazei (Murrill) in Ceará State

Abstract

A type of mushroom originally from Brazil and denominated Agaricus blazei, has important nutritive and medicinal properties. Its cultivation presents both ecological and economic positive aspects. In order to evaluate its adaptation in Ceará State, Brazil, the cultivation was implemented in greenhouse environment, in Fortaleza and Guaramiranga counties.For Guaramiranga it was also cultivated under field conditions. During the period in field cultivation the following local data was collected:air temperature, air relative humidity and pluvial precipitation. Because of this subject was not well studied yet, some personal informations were collected from growers. The results showed that the climatic conditions in Fortaleza as well as in Guaramiranga favored the vegetative growth of the fungi. In relation to the reproductive stage, the climatic conditions of Fortaleza (higher air temperatures and shorter thermic amplitud variation) inhibited primordium induction.The climatic conditions in Guaramiranga were more adequate and favored fungi growth, mainly under field conditions where the productivity levels kept near to those of the traditional production areas.