Respiration rate of fresh button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus

摘要

Selection of appropriate packaging material to design a modified atmosphere (MA) packaging system for fresh mushrooms requires data on respiration rates under various gas compositions. The respiration rates of fresh mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) at 12°C under different atmospheric conditions were measured by flow-through and closed-system methods. The atmospheres studied in the flow-through method were 5, 10, 15% v/v O_2 (with the balance being N_2),and ambient air. In the flow-through method, the respiration rates at all O_2 concentrations quickly decreased after one day of storage, probably because of adaptation to new environment, and then remained relatively constant during five to six days of storage. The respiration rates decreased after 6 days of storage, except for the mushrooms at 5% O_2, in which the respiration rate increased. In the closed-system, the respiration rate decreased with O_2 concentration and no equilibrium was reached. In this method, the mushrooms are constantly adjustingto changes in O_2 concentration and, hence, never reach a steady state. In the flow-through system, mushrooms are constantly exposed to a fixed O_2 concentration and, hence, this method can be used to determine the respiration rate of fresh mushrooms for the design of MA Package.