Spent mushroom substrate (SMS) is defined as the material that remains after a mushroom production cycle. The substrate for the bulk of commercially produced mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) is generally composed of horse and chicken manure, hay and wheat straw, as well as supplements such as cottonseed meal, husks and hulls, corn cobs, limestone chips, gypsum, urea, and minerals that is first composted then used for mushroom production. Large quantities of SMS are being produced every year and in concentrated areas, so its disposal poses an issue. One of the major problems with storing or holding SMS is that it continues to compost and goes anaerobic producing of an offensive odor Other problems include nutrient leaching from the SMS into the ground water and unsightly appearance when piled on farmland. Currently the SMS that is used by the nursery and greenhouse industry is aged 1 or more years. To reduce the time and space needed to store SMS, Young, 2000 demonstrated that fresh SMS could with special handling be used for greenhouse and nursery crops with out aging. If fresh SMS is not used immediately but has to be stored, the pile of SMS will go anaerobic and the odor will be offensive to the surrounding community. To over come this problem we are evaluating if a 30-days aerobic composting period will create a fairly stable type of SMS that then can be used by the nursery and greenhouse industry. The objective of this research was to determine the response of plant species to aerated and static SMS and five mix concentrations.
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