2. Importance of Mushrooms
• Mushrooms are high protein low fat fungi of great
economic value.
• Supplement diets which lack proteins “Vegetable
Meat”
• Possess low carbohydrate and fat content.
• Act as low-caloric diet recommended to heart
patients.
• Ideal food for diabetic patients owing to its low starch
content.
• Polysaccharides in mushrooms have anti-tumour and
immunological properties.
3. Commercial Mushroom Species Cultivated in India
• White button mushroom (Agaricus
bisporus),
• Oyster (Pleurotus spp.),
• Paddy straw (Volvariella volvacea),
• Milky (Calocybe indica) and
• Shiitake (Lentinula edodes)
Sharma et al., 2017
6. Diseases of Mushroom
Fungal Diseases Bacterial Diseases Viral Diseases
Soft Mildew / Cobweb Bacterial Blotch La France
Brown Plaster Mould Brown Disease and
Watery Stripe
White plaster mould X Disease
Olive green mould Dieback Disease
Inky Cap
Green Mould
Truffle Disease
Bubble Disease
Dry Bubble disease
7. Losses due to Diseases after
Artificial Inoculation
Disease % loss after Artificial
Inoculation
Reported by
Dry Bubble 2.26-47.2% Sharma and Vijay, 1993
Wet Bubble Upto 100% Bhatt and Singh (2000)
Cob Web 66.6% Sharma and Vijay, 1996
Green Mould 8-26% Grogan et al., 2000
False Truffle 58-80% Sharma and Jandaik (1996)
Brown Plaster
Mould
3.0-50.7% Sharma and Vijay, 1993
Ink Caps 20.14-94.4% Sharma, 1992
13. 1. DRY BUBBLE
• Pathogen : Verticillium fungicola, V. malthousei or
V. psialliste
• Common Name : Verticillium disease, brown spot,
fungus spot, dry bubble, La mole.
• First reported by Malthouse in 1901.
Symptoms:
• Causes brown spot on cap resulting in irregular
patches
• In severe infection mushrooms become
distorted
• Affected mushrooms become leathery
16. Transmitted by :
Contaminated compost, casing soil. (Kumar et al., 2014)
Human beings and splashes of water (Cross and Jacobs., 1969)
Primary introduction may also be through air borne spores as well
as by the spores carried by flies, mites or pickers.
(Munshi et al., 2010)
Management:
1. Relies mainly on hygiene and prevention of introducing
inoculum on mushroom farms
(Berendsen et al., 2010)
2. Dichlorvas @ 30 ml/ 100 lit. water/ 100 m3 area to check
mites and flies.
(Tsarev, 2014)
1. Carbendazim gives highest percentage growth inhibition
against pathogen followed by Thiophanate methyl, Dithane
Z-78 and Dithane M-45.
(Kumar et al., 2014)
17. Wet bubble
(Mycogone perniciosa)
• Characterized by the development of white
mycelial growth on fruiting bodies of button
mushroom.
• It spreads and covers the entire cap.
• Development of distorted masses of
mushroom tissues, called as ‘Sclerodamoid
mass’ which initially are white and fluffy but
become brown with age and then decay.
(Munshi et al., 2010)
• Presence of amber liquid droplets on the
surface of distorted mushrooms.
(Sharma and Kumar., 2005)
18.
19. Management
• Strict hygienic conditions and sterilized
casing soil.
• Spray of Benomyl @ 0.1 %
immediately after casing has been
found most effective.
• Application of carbendazim,
chlorothalonil, prochloraz manganese
complex (Sportak 50 WP) @ 0.1 % into
casing material.
• A spray of 0.8 % Formalin on to casing
surface, immediately after its
application on the beds is also effective.
(Gupta et al., 2018)
20. Cobweb disease
[Cladobotryum dendroides (syn. Dactylium dendroides)]
• First reported in India at Chail and Shimla
in Himachal Pradesh (Seth, 1977).
• Exhibits characteristic coarse mycelial
growth over the affected mushroom.
• High relative humidity and temperature
favours the disease.
• Normally introduced by contaminated
casing soil or spores through air.
• Secondary spread by air movement,
pickers, water splashes.
(Gupta et al., 2018)
21.
22. Management
• Disinfection of casing soil with live steam at 50 0C
for 4 hours.
• Bavistin + Thiram at 0.9 and 0.6 gm-2 followed by
Thiobendazole and Benlate (0.9 gm-2).
(Seth and Dar., 1989)
• 0.05 % Carbendazim at spawning followed by
0.25% mancozeb at casing and Carbendazim again
15 days later.
(Sharma et al., 1992)
24. Green mould
(Trichoderma viride)
• Appears as thick cushioned white patch with greenish
fungal growth on spawned and cased bags which
gradually change to bluish green in colour.
• Characterized by large areas of dense sporulation on
the compost and casing surface
(Anderson et al., 2000)
• Generally appear in compost rich in carbohydrates
and deficient in nitrogen.
• High pH of casing promotes its development.
(Gupta et al., 2018)
• Vigorous colonizer of organic material and dead
mushroom tissue. (Munshi et al., 2010)
26. Management
• Fungicides
–Prochloraz + carbendazim (Abosriwil and Clancy,
2003)
–Thiobendazole (Rinker and Alm, 2008)
–Imazalil sulfate against benzimidazole resistant
strains (Romaine et al., 2008).
Bacteria including Bacillus species have been
found to be efficient antagonists of aggressive
Trichoderma strains.
(Gupta et al., 2018)
27. False truffle disease
(Pseudobalsamia microspora or Diehliomyces microspora)
• More prevalent in summer
• The mushrooms in bed and top of casing soil are
characteristically small (resembling fused pinheads).
• Initially white fluffy mycelium which later turns creamy yellow,
prominent between compost and casing layers.
• The mycelium becomes thicker, solid, wrinkled mass resembling
peeled walnut or brain like structure.
• Lack of ventilation and high humidity.
Management
• The only control measures are to minimize temperature fluctuations
and provide adequate ventilation.
• The spawn run temperature and cropping bed temperature should
not exceed 22°C.
• High humidity in mushroom houses should be avoided.
28.
29. Plaster Moulds
• Brown Plaster Moulds
(Populaspora byssina)
• White Plaster Moulds
(Scopulariopsis fumicola)
30. Brown plaster mould
(Populaspora byssina)
• Appears as large roughly circular patches of white mould on
the surface of casing material.
• These patches later on turn brown and form powdery
granules
• The fungus also colonizes compost.
(Fletcher et al., 1989)
• The presence of fungus has been associated with wet
compost.
• This disease is commonly found in mushroom farms of the
valley and if uncontrolled it cause drastic reduction in
mushroom production.
(Munshi et al., 2010)
• Initially silver grey but as spore mature the colour changes to
a dark tan or light brown.
(Howard et al., 1994)
31.
32. White Plaster Mould
(Scopulariopsis fumicola)
• Produces dense white patches of mycelium and
spores on the casing surface and in the compost.
• The mycelium remains white (Fletcher et al., 1989)
• If the compost retains smell of ammonia and has
pH more than 8.0, these become common.
• Both plaster moulds grow well in compost with pH
more or equal to 8.0.
(Fletcher et al., 1989; Howard et al., 1994)
Modification of composting practices to improve
compost quality reduces the occurrence of plaster
moulds.
33. Bacterial Blotch
(Pseudomonas talaasi)
• Circular yellowish spots develop on the cap or near
the margin and coalesce to form chocolate brown
spot which penetrate the fleshy tissues.
• Characterized by brown, irregular, sunken lesions on
the pileus and/ or stipe.
• Disease spreads by splashing water drops from
infected to healthy sporophores, pickers
implements, flies and mites. This may also occur
after harvest.
(Wells, 1996)
34.
35. Management
• Lowering of humidity to 80%
• Running fans immediately after
watering to dry the caps prevents
spread of bacteria to growing
sporophores.
• Spray the beds with 100 ppm bleaching
powder.
36. Viral Diseases
Number of Viruses which cause disease commonly known as:
La France
Watery stripe
Die back
X-disease or
Brown disease
Most common symptoms are:
Elongation of the stalk with a small, tilted cap (drumstick)
Deterioration of the mycelium (Die-back) resulting in bare patched in the
crop.
Small brown mushrooms develop which often open prematurely
Obligate parasites
Transmitted through Mushroom spores.
(Gupta et al., 2018)
37. Management
• Strict hygiene inside the farm should be maintained
• Filtered air should be used inside the peak heating,
spawn running and cropping rooms.
• Mushrooms should be picked before they open.
• All wooden parts of growing units should be
thorough sterilized and cleaned to kill any
mushroom mycelium from the earlier crop.
• Tolerant or resistant strains should be used.
(Gupta et al., 2018)