Hosein Riahi - Faculty of biology Sciences and Biotechnology , Shahid Beheshti university, Tehran
Zeynab Shariatmadari - Faculty of biology Sciences and Biotechnolgy, Shahid Beheshti university, Tehran
Maryam khangir - Faculty of biology Sciences and Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti university, Tehran
Mehri Seyed hashtroudi - Iranian National Institute for Oceanograghy, Department of Marine Living Science,Tehran, Iran

Cyanobacteria comprise a large group ofstructurally complex and ecologically significantgram-negative prokaryotes. There aremany reports that these microorganisms producephytohormones such as cytokinin, auxinand auxin-like substances in soil. Until nowmost research and applications of cyanobacteriahave been conducted with green plantsgrowing. There is no evidence to provide thatcyanobacterial culture could stimulate mushroomgrowth and mushroom yield. In thisstudy, algal culture of heterocystous cyanobacteriaAnabaena vaginicola Fritsch et ich wassprayed on casing soil at primordia formationstage of Agaricus bisporus, before the first, thesecond and the third flushes. The result showedthat inoculation of cyanobacteria into the casingsoil as biofertilizer significantly increasedmushroom yield and quality. In complementarystudies, nitrogenase activity of this alga wasdetermined by acetylene reduction techniqueand identification of phytohormones was performedwith HPLC method. Chemical contentof algal suspension was another factor that wasanalyzed in this experiment.

Anabaena vaginicola, Casing Soil, Phytohormone, White Button mushroom, HPLC