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Abstract: The role of bacteria, isolated from peat casing materials, in the process of fructification of the cultivated mushroom Agaricus bisporus, was investigated. The bacteria isolated were identified as fluorescent strains of Pseudomonas, the dominant bacterial genus found in peat casing samples. On a laboratory scale, a characterisation of total casing microfloral populations was made, indicating how these populations changed over the Agaricus growth cycle. Large increases in total bacterial counts occured during the first 14 days of culture, until the first crop flush, after which the total amount of bacteria generally tended to stabilise or fall off. The proportion of fluorescent pseudomonads in casing was shown to fluctuate between 14 and 41% of the total bacteria present, increases coinciding with the onset of fruiting. Fluorescent pseudomonads were seen to adhere to hyphal walls of A. bisporus in an electron microscopic study, which also revealed the ability of these organisms to attach rapidly, firmly and specifically to the fungal hyphae. It was proposed that the removal of fungal deposits of crystalline calcium oxalate from the hyphal walls could be a determining factor in the attachment of fluorescent pseudomonads to A. bisporus, which is a prerequisite for fructification.
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