O'Brien, Matthew and Kavanagh, Kevin and Grogan, Helen (2017) Detection of Trichoderma aggressivum in bulk phase III substrate and the effect of T. aggressivum inoculum, supplementation and substrate-mixing on Agaricus bisporus yields. European Journal of Plant Pathology, 147 (1). pp. 199-209. ISSN 1573-8469

Preview

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Trichoderma aggressivum is an aggressive contaminant mould in the cultivation of Agaricus bisporus leading to severe reductions in mushroom yields. Production of fully colonised A. bisporus substrate in Europe is commonly carried out in large tunnels (Phase III), after which the substrate undergoes several bulk handling (mixing) operations before ending up on shelves in mushroom growing facilities. The work presented here studied the effect of Trichoderma aggressivum inoculum, substrate mixing and supplementation on Agaricus bisporus yields and evaluated four methods to detect T. aggressivum in bulk handled substrate. Inoculum dilution level was shown to correlate well with mushroom yield (P < 0.0001) with reductions of 2–6 % at the most dilute level (10−4) and 60–100 % at the most concentrated level (10−1), depending on the experiment. Supplementation, with or without T. aggressivum, had no significant effect on mushroom yield (P ≥ 0.85) but a high degree of substrate mixing was shown to significantly increase (P < 0.0001) T. aggressivum-associated crop losses. Four T. aggressivum detection methods were evaluated and a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method gave the most consistent and least variable results. Cycle threshold (CT) values ranged from 24 to 40, depending on the experiment and the inoculum dilution level, and false negatives (CT = 40) were reported on one occasion with the most dilute samples. The results indicate that Phase III mushroom substrate is vulnerable to infection by T. aggressivum when the fully colonised substrate is broken up and mixed during bulk handling operations, identifying a previously unidentified risk for Phase III substrate producers.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Cite as: O’Brien, M., Kavanagh, K. & Grogan, H. Eur J Plant Pathol (2017) 147: 199. https://doi.org/O’Brien, M., Kavanagh, K. & Grogan, H. Eur J Plant Pathol (2017) 147: 199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-016-0992-9
Keywords:	Mushroom compost; Green mould; Phase 3; Detection methods; qPCR; RT-PCR;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Biology
Item ID:	11081
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-016-0992-9
Depositing User:	Dr. Kevin Kavanagh
Date Deposited:	24 Sep 2019 13:06
Journal or Publication Title:	European Journal of Plant Pathology
Publisher:	Springer
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	https://link.springer.com
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

Repository Staff Only(login required)

Item control page

Downloads

Origin of downloads