Control of Fungal Diseases in Mushroom Crops while Dealing with Fungicide Resistance: A Review

• Main Authors: Francisco J. Gea, María J. Navarro, Milagrosa Santos, Fernando Diánez, Jaime Carrasco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: Microorganisms
• Subjects: cultivated mushrooms; dry bubble; cobweb; wet bubble; green mold; control
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/3/585

Mycoparasites cause heavy losses in commercial mushroom farms worldwide. The negative impact of fungal diseases such as dry bubble (<i>Lecanicillium fungicola</i>), cobweb (<i>Cladobotryum</i> spp.), wet bubble (<i>Mycogone perniciosa</i>), and green mold (<i>Trichoderma</i> spp.) constrains yield and harvest quality while reducing the cropping surface or damaging basidiomes. Currently, in order to fight fungal diseases, preventive measurements consist of applying intensive cleaning during cropping and by the end of the crop cycle, together with the application of selective active substances with proved fungicidal action. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the redundant application of the same fungicides has been conducted to the occurrence of resistant strains, hence, reviewing reported evidence of resistance occurrence and introducing unconventional treatments is worthy to pave the way towards the design of integrated disease management (IDM) programs. This work reviews aspects concerning chemical control, reduced sensitivity to fungicides, and additional control methods, including genomic resources for data mining, to cope with mycoparasites in the mushroom industry.