Mushroom are mainly subjected to bacterial , fungal and viral diseases. Improper pasteurization of compost and casing soil can be the major source of diseases Once the disease is introdeuced in the farm it can be carried out by different agencies like air, water, machines and workers.

1. Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali
Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and
Forestry ,Bharsar Pauri Garhwal
Course title :-Mushroom culture (HPI 110)
Submitted to:-Dr. Sanjeev Ravi
Submitted by :- Vikas Tiwari(16031)

2. Topic:-
Diseases and insect Pests of Mushroom .

3. INTRODUCTION
 Mushroom are mainly subjected to bacterial , fungal
and viral diseases.
 Improper pasteurization of compost and casing soil
can be the major source of diseases
 Once the disease is introdeuced in the farm it can
be carried out by different agencies like air, water,
machines and workers.

4. Diseases and Pests of Mushroom :-
Fungal diseases Bacterial disease Virus diseases Insect pests Nematodes
Soft mildew/cobweb Bacterial blotch la france Sciarids Myceliophagous
nematodes
Brown plaster mould Wet Spot/Sour Rot Brown disease and
watery stripe
Phorids Saprophagous
nematodes
White plaster mould X disease Spring tails
Olive green mould Dieback disease Cecid
Inky cap Mites
Green mould
Truffle disease
Bubble disease
Dry bubble disease

5. Fungal diseases
Soft mildew or cobweb –
C. 0. :- Dactylium dendroides
Symptoms:-
 a fluffy, white, cobweb-like mould
grows over the surface of the casing soil .
 Initially it is white but later changes to
pink with age.
 The chief sources of infection are soil, air
,wet surface and high humidity.

6. Control:-
good ventilation and prevent excess humidity
PCNB (Pentachloro Nitro Benzene) @ 0.1% and dithane Z-78 @ 0.2%

7. Brown plaster mould
C.O. Papulospora byssina
Symptoms:-
 Occurs on the cropping trees ,initially cloudy white
appearance later changes to brown.
 Originally fungus rises in compost.
 too wet compost , high temp.
(28-32) c during spawn run and cropping at
more than 18 C encourages Infection.

8. Control:-
Maintain suitable temp. during the spawn run and
cropping
2% of formalin

9. White plaster mould
C.O. :- Scopulariopsis fumicola
Symptoms:-
Closely resembles brow plaster
mould initially but later changes
to pink shade .
Too much water in the composting
anaerobic peak heat leads to the
growth of fungus

10. Control:-
Formalin 2% and dithane Z-78 @ 0.2%

11. Olive green mould
C.O. Chaetomium olivacearum
Symptoms:-
Appear in compost or spawn before casing.
Initially white & changes to olive green afterwards.
Improper pasteurization and inadequate ventilation leads to it.

12. Control:-
Temp maintained below 60 C during pasteurization.
Spray 0.2% thiram and captan @ 0.05% at trays.

13. Inky cap :-
C.O. :- Coprinus lagopus and C. comatus
Symptoms:-
Appearane of long cylindrical stalk with small thin cap and turns into black inky liquid
Its presence Indicates the presence of ammonia in compost.

14. Control :-
Trays of compost should be freed from ammonia
Re-pasteurization of spawn trays at 60 C for 2 hrs and respawned and
recased.

15. Green mould
C.O. Trichoderma viride
Symptoms :-
Appear as green patches on spawn and cased trays .
Checks pin formation and hence reduces yieldan
Fungus grows on dead decomposed matter and dead mushroom tissue.
Improper pasteurization and high humidity also responsible.

16. Control:-
Spray 0.05 % benlate

17. Truffle disease
C.O.:- Pseudobalsamia microspora
Symptoms:-
Appearance of round, cream coloured, and wrinkled convulated surface
giving it a brain like appearance .
On maturity turns reddish brown and release spores.
Lack of ventilation and high humidity leads to it.

18. Control :-
Spawn run and cropping bed temp < 18 C
High humidity avoided

19. Bubble disease:-
C.O. :- Mycogone perniciosa
Symptoms :-
Dense white mat of mycelium laeading to reduction in yield.
Swallon stalk and smallen cap at early stage.
Unpasteurized compost also leads to it.

20. Control :-
Beds sterlised @ 2% formalin.
Spray dithane Z-78 @ 0.2 % and benlate @ 0.05%.

21. Dry bubble, brown spot disease:-
C.O. :- Verticillium malthousei or V. psialliste
Symptoms :-
Causes brown spot on cap , resulting in irregular patches
In severe infection mushroom become distorted.
Affected mushrooms becomes leathery

22. Control:-
Dithane Z-78 @ 0.2% 3 times at casing.
Control of high tempertaure at casing and proper
ventilation .

23. Bacterial disease:- Bacterial blotch
 C.O. :- Pseudomonas tolaassi
Symptoms :-
 Appearance of brown slightly sunken blotches on the m,ushroom cap
Spots are irregular , yellowish to dark brown.
 Main source of infection is infection soil and separate through flies , mites and nematodes.

24. Control :-
Cosing soil sterilization and proper ventilation .
Use of chlorinated water.
Spray of terramycin @ 9mg/f on beds.

25. Wet Spot/Sour Rot
C.O. Bacillus spp.
 heat resistant endospores .
 A dull gray to mucus-like brownish slime characterized
Management
 Soaking the grain at room temperature 12 - 24 hours prior to sterilization

26. Viral disease:-
Various diseases like
 la france (Sinden hauser,1950)
 Brown disease and watery stripe (gandy ,1960)
 X disease(kneebone et al., 1962)
 Dieback disease(gandy and hollings ,1962)
Symptoms of viral disease :-
Mushrooms get shriveled, leathery and brown coloured.
Under humid condition stripe become watery and grey.
Delayed appearance of pinhead formation
 Cream and off coloured mushrooms suffer less than pure white variety.

27. La france virus disease X disease of mushroom

28. Control
 ZAAYEN 1972 suggested:-
 Heat the growing room +trays and compost at 70 C for 12
hrs.
 Treating trays with 4% sodium pentachlorophenate, 0.5-1
% soda solution
 Disinfection doors, floors and walls -4% formaldehyde.
 Proper santitaion.

29. Insects pests:-
 Mushrooms are also attacked by insects and pests.
 Spring tails, phorids flies , sciarid flies, mites,
Nematodes.
 They lay eggs and larvae feeds on compost, eat away
the mycelim and burrow the stalk of mushroom

30. Sciarids:-
Lycorella fenestralis
Scaria carpophilla
S. agaria
 Dark in colour, cylinder bodies,with long antennae.
 Larvae is more harmful than adult,and feed on compost.
 Larvae makes tunnel shape cavity in mushroom.

31. Control :-
 Strict hygiene in the mushroom house .
 Proper turnings during composting process
 Drenching of malathion @0.01% ,chlorofenvinphos @ 208 ml/tonne

32. Spring tails
Megaselia nigra
M. Agrici
M. bovistra
 Cannot be seen by naked eyes.
 When they are in mass, they looks like gun powder.
 Mostly feed on the mycelium and attack stalk and caps.

33. Control :
 Clean cultivation, proper pasteurization of compost and casing
materials
 Use of 0.05 % malathion as spray for disinfection.
 Spray dichlorovos at 0.025 – 0.05 % conc. during spawn run

34. Phorids
 These cause much damage to mycelium and sometimes make
tunnels.
 Their front end is tapered.
 There lavae causes more damage than adult.

35. Control:-
Strict hygiene in the mushroom house .
Proper turnings during composting process.
Mix with compost at spawning Diazinon @ 200g/tonne.
Formalin @ 0.2% at casing

36. Mites :-
Mycophagous mites:-
Red pepper mites, generally feed on weed moulds
The tiny mites are yellowish-brown in colour maily present on the surface of
casing soil.
Saprophagous mites:-
These are translucent white, long hair on body,
Feed on mycelium causing shrunked caps.
Causes complete destruction in buttons of button and tropical mushroom.
Introduced in compost by flies.

37.  Mycophagous mites:-
 Saprophagous mites:-

38. Control:-
 Cleaning the mushroom house and disposal of organic
debris.
 Disinfect the mushroom house by spray of dicofol @ 0.1%.
 Spraying the compost with diazinon @1.5-2 ml/10l of water.

39. Nematodes:-
MUSHROOM NEMATODES:
Sources of infestation:
Compost ingredients like wheat straw, chicken manure, horse manure, saw
dust,
wooden trays, shelves and other containers etc; can be the primary source
of infestation.
Spread:
Once these nematodes get entry into the mushroom house, they further
spread through air, faulty spray of water, workers’ hands, implements,
mushroom flies,mites etc.
 The mushroom nematodes are of following two types:
 Mycophagous or myceliophagous naematodes
 Saprophagous nematodes

40.  I. Myceliophagous nematodes
( Aphelenchoides composticola, Aphelenchoides agarici, A.neocomposticola, Ditylenchus
myceliophagous )
These nematodes feed directly on mushroom mycelium and the fruit bodies.
They are provided with a special type of mouth part i.e. stylet or needle with which these
parasites puncture the hypha, inject digestive juices and suck the cellular contents.

41. 2. Saprophagous nematodes ( Rhabditis spp. ,Panagrolaimus spp. Diplogaster spp. ):
These are having a tube –like mouthpart instead of a stylet through which they suck the
nutrient particles of the substrate
With their tube like mouthparts, they are structurally incapable of causing any direct
damage to mushroom mycelium.
They spoil the structure and quality of composts in cropping beds emitting foul smell,
reduction in yield,reduction in crop duration and quantitative loss of the sporophores etc.

42. Symptoms of nematode infestation:
The compost surface sinks
Mycelium grows sparsely in patches and turns stingy
The white mycelium starts disappearing from the infected mushroom
compost
leaving only the coarse strands showing black compost mass .
Because of the build -up of high population of bacteria, compost becomes
soggy
and foul smelling.
The pinheads turn brown, watery and remain stunted.
The fruit bodies appear in patches in the beds
Due to reduction in flush pattern and crop duration, the yield is
drastically reduced.

43. Control methods:
 Complete hygiene
 Proper pasteurization of compost and casing materials
 Drenching mushroom houses and premises with some
disinfectants
 Use of fresh polythene bags and sterilization of empty
trays or trolleys with formalin or other disinfectants
 Growing resistant mushroom varieties like Agaricus
bitorquis , Pleurotus sajorcaju, Stropharia rugoso-
annulata etc.

44.  Nematode trapping fungi like Arthrobotrys
oligospora , A. superba , A. robusta
 several species of Pleurotus can be used as
bio- control agents against mushroom
nematodes .
 Mixing of plant extracts of neem , castor,
groundnu , karanj etc. in compost at the
time of spawning or cropping.

45. Refrences:-
 Wikipedia(www.wiki.org)
 Handbook Of Mushroom
 Fletcher.J.T.; P.F. White and R.H. Gaze. 1989; Mushrooms: Pest and Disease
Control. 2nd ed.;Intercept Ltd.;pp174
 Garcha.H.S.;1978;Diseases of mushroom and their control; Indian Mush.
Sci.vol.1;pp185-191.

46. Thank you