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Presenters: Dr Michael Kertesz,  Associate Professor of Soil Microbiology, Sydney Institute of Agriculture, and Dr Ralph Noble, Warwickshire College, UK

Button mushrooms contain high levels of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, but are also an excellent source of protein. With 19 - 35% protein per gram of dry weight, they contain more protein than rice (7.3%), wheat (13 %) or milk (25%), and the high content of essential amino acids also means that button mushroom proteins are 90-98% as nutritious as most meat protein.

The nitrogen required to build these proteins comes from the compost, partly from raw materials such as manure, and partly from supplements added later in the process. The carbon:nitrogen ratio in the starting compost mix is usually set to between 30:1 and 35:1, which is optimal for growth of the microbes that convert the straw into productive compost, but only about 12-15% of this nitrogen finishes up in the mushroom crop that goes to market.

This webinar will discuss how nitrogen is transformed into mushroom protein during composting and cropping, where losses occur, and how changes in starting materials or composting processes might be used to increase compost productivity and the nutritional value of the mushroom crop.

The content for this webinar comes from the Optimize nitrogen transformations in Mushroom production project (MU17004) and the webinar is brought to you by the Marsh Lawson Mushroom Research centre project (MU16004).  

Both projects were was funded by the mushroom levy with funds from the Australian government and managed by Hort Innovation.