Button mushroom can grow in many breeding medium, either on synthetic or natural medium. Synthetic medium usually expensive and need long time to create the one, so seldom for routine breeding like natural medium.
Natural medium to breed mushroom mycelium to cultivate button mushroom is Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA). Substance required for making the PDA is:
- Chip Potato which have been pared and washed out 200 grams.
- Dextrose (or white sugar) 20 grams.
- Bar agar or flour agar 20 grams.
- Distillate water 1 liter.
Wash out the potato, weigh the potato as much as required (200 grams), then sliced about 1 cm in thick. Boiling with distillate water until the potato becomes soft (about 15 minutes). Filter the water after boiled potato then add with distilled water until the total volume 1 liter. Move the filtrate to the glass or can, add to filtrate dextrose, white sugar and agar. Boiling the mixture and stir continuously. After boiled for several minutes, filter use lint and pouring into bottles about 2,5 cm height, for core breeding, pouring the PDA media about 10 ml into the reaction tube. Close the tube using compacted cotton. Cover the cotton and tube using aluminum foil then tie with tread. Sterilize with autoclave for about 15 minutes in the 15 psi pressure or boiled for 1 hour three times for 3 days. After sterilize, place the tube or bottle in the incline position when the medium still fluid but keep the fluid is not touch cotton close.
The PDA that is not used can be kept in freezer until 7 months as long the media not dry. This medium is used for mycelium isolation, producing pure breeding and multiplies mushroom pure breeding.
Contaminated medium before use seen other microorganism grown before inoculation, must be through away. On this connection, the medium should be free until at least 12 hours before used, and will see that there is no contamination on the medium.