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Abstract: Under the natural climatic conditions (September-March) of Punjab state (India), Agaricus bisporus – temperate mushroom, is being grown indoors on composts which are prepared outdoors comprising of low cost agricultural wastes like wheat straw, paddy straw, poultry litter, cotton seed meal etc.; and a long method of composting, taking 26-30 days, is applied which does not need much mechanisation. This composting process, being a mixed fermentation phenomenon, leads ultimately to the decomposition of plant residues by microbes. Some work on the microbiology and the chemistry of the composts has been done abroad (Chang and Hudson, 1967; Hayes, 1968; Gerrits, 1969; Grabbe and Haider, 1971a,b; Tansey, 1971 and Staiiek, 1972). In India, under the temperate conditions of Himachal Pradesh, Munjal et al. (1974) and Munjal and Dhar (1976) published a report on the microflora of synthetic mushroom composts prepared from wheat straw and chicken manure mixtures. In contrast the present studies were carried out under tropical conditions (August-September, composting season) to provide the information about the microflora of different compost stacks used in the state. In addition, data regarding the various physical factors affecting the compost stacks was also collected.
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