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Abstract: At present cultivated mushroom is grown successfully on so-called synthetic compost, i.e., compost without the use of horse manure. Dr Sinden and Dr Edwards's work is a considerable contribution toward finding a substitute for horse manure in mushroom growing. They point out the importance of organic additives and trace elements when preparing synthetic composts according to the classical micro-biological method (3, 4, 7, 9). While preparing the so-called mycofodder, the Hungarian mycologist Imre Heltay avoids the use of manure, at the same time pointing out both the necessity of nitrogen-containing organic additives in the form of various types of fodder and the need of trace element additives to initial material with cellulose content (5). Otto Till's sterile substratum where no micro-biological methods are applied, also makes use of organic nitrogen by adding certain quantities of hay, cotton seed meal and soya bean meal (6, 8, 10). While working to find a substitute for horse manure in mushroom growing under local conditions, we aim at minimizing as much as possible the use of horse manure and other kinds of organic manures and protein containing fodder — necessary for the solution of the fodder problem with contemporary live stock breeding. The purpose of the present experiments was to produce high quality compost only made of bulk cellulose-containing materials and mineral additives, reaching the necessary protein content in the finished compost by means of synthesis, using the biological energy of microorganisms. We were also interested to establish whether composts, without organic manure and protein-containing additives need any trace element additives, having in mind that Bulgarian soils are fairly well supplied with a number of trace elements which eventually pass into the plants and are available in plant by-products, used in mushroom growing as substitutes for horse manure.
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