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Abstract: Historically, the white variety of Agaricus bisporus has dominated the market in the U.S.A., however, in recent years there has been a pronounced trend toward the acceptance, and even preference, of pigmented strains in the processed market nationally and in the fresh market in Western U.S.A. Since whites have been used primarily in the past, there has been relatively little work done on the selection, development, and maintenance of the brown variety. The brown variety has a number of outstanding advantages over the white among which are longer shelf life or less perishability on the fresh market, less conspicuous oxidizing or blemishing of tissue, higher specific gravity which results in less shrinkage during processing, and larger average size which reduces picking costs. Flavor differences, if any, are largely subjective and have not been quantified conclusively between varieties although flavor is intensified with maturity of the individual sporocarp in any variety. Differences in speed of growth of mycelium, earliness of fruiting, and total yield appear to be characteristics of individual isolates of any variety and are not correlated directly with the white or brown variety per se (KNEEBONE, 1965, 1968). With the advantages in mind an intensive and extensive single spore evaluation program was begun with the brown variety. Reported herein are the selection procedures and the early cropping experience with the more promising isolates.
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