Effect of different washing treatment and duration on keeping quality of white button mushroom Agaricus bisporus

Post-harvest dip treatment of Agaricus bisporus in 0.25% citric acid showed better keeping quality as it retains excellent whiteness and no veil opening up to 96 hours of storage at 5°C, good whiteness and no veil opening up to 96 hours of storage at 12°C. Further, at 18°C storage temperature and whiteness was excellent whereas, veils opened after 48 hrs of storage. Dip treatment in tap water (well water) [pH 8.3, EC 1.61 dS/m, SAR 23.67, RSC 14.3 Meq/litre, CO₃⁻ 1.6, HCO₃⁻ 18.9, Cl⁻6.2, Ca+Mg 6.6, Na⁺ 43, K⁺ 1.3 Meq/litre] also showed excellent whiteness up to 24, 72 and 96 hours of storage duration without veil opening at 18, 12 and 5°C of storage temperature, respectively.