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TRANSPIRATION FROM THE SPOROPHORE OF AGARICUS BISPORUS ‘WHITE’
Author(s) -
Antonio James P. San,
Flegg Peter B.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1964.tb06744.x
Subject(s) - transpiration , agaricus bisporus , horticulture , biology , botany , mushroom , photosynthesis
The transpiration from normal, intact, growing sporophores of the cultivated mushroom, Agaricus bisporus cv ‘White’ was determined by a gravimetric method. A simple method was devised to estimate the surface area of a sporophore. Under different conditions of temperature and relative humidity, the quotient of transpiration/cm 2 sporophore surface area and evaporation/cm 2 free‐water surface area did not significantly differ from 1. Transpiration from the underside of an open‐veil mushroom was related to the planar area rather than to the total exposed gill area. Normally growing sporophores transpired up to 3 mg/cm 2 /hr. It was estimated that during development to the open‐veil stage, a sporophore transpired a quantity of water equal to ca. one‐half of its fresh weight. There was no evidence of factors other than environmental affecting the evaporation of water from the surface of the normally growing sporophore. Our data were not extensive enough, however, to provide evidence for or against Schütte's hypothesis that transpiration in a mature agaric fructification may be intimately linked with a physiological process.