Potential of European wild strains of Agaricus subrufescens for productivity and quality on wheat straw based compost.

The Brazilian almond mushroom is currently cultivated for its medicinal properties but cultivars are suspected all to have a common origin. The objective of this work was to assess the potential of wild isolates of Agaricus subrufescens Peck (Agaricus blazei, Agaricus brasiliensis) as a source of new traits to improve the mushroom yield and quality for developing new cultures under European growing conditions. The wild European strains analysed showed a good ability to be commercially cultivated on wheat straw and horse manure based compost: shorter time to fruiting, higher yield, similar antioxidant activities when compared to cultivars. They have a valuable potential of genetic and phenotypic diversity and proved to be interfertile with the original culture of the Brazilian almond mushroom. Intercontinental hybrids could be obtained and combine properties from both Brazilian and European germplasm for increasing the choice of strains cultivated by the mushroom growers.