Manipulating button mushroom casing affects the disease dynamics of blotch and green mold disease.
Eoin O'Connor, Fabricio Rocha Vieira, Isako Di Tomassi, Rachel Richardson, Kevin L Hockett, Carolee T Bull, John A Pecchia
Author Information
Eoin O'Connor: Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, The Pennsylvanian State University, University Park, PA, USA; One Health Microbiome Center, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. Electronic address: epo5193@psu.edu.
Fabricio Rocha Vieira: Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, The Pennsylvanian State University, University Park, PA, USA; One Health Microbiome Center, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Isako Di Tomassi: Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, The Pennsylvanian State University, University Park, PA, USA; One Health Microbiome Center, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Rachel Richardson: Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, The Pennsylvanian State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Kevin L Hockett: Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, The Pennsylvanian State University, University Park, PA, USA; One Health Microbiome Center, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA; The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Carolee T Bull: Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, The Pennsylvanian State University, University Park, PA, USA; One Health Microbiome Center, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA; Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
John A Pecchia: Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, The Pennsylvanian State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Productive cultivation of the button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) relies on the use of selective substrates and effective disease management. In extending our previous work on manipulating the developmental microbiome (devome), this study employs the strategy of substrate passaging to explore its effects on crop outcomes and disease dynamics. Here we subjected the casing substrate to ten cycles of passaging. This manipulated substrate stimulated early pinning (primordia formation) by at least three days. Passaged casing also altered disease dynamics when challenged with two commercially important A. bisporus pathogens, Pseudomonas tolaasii (causing bacterial Blotch) and Trichoderma aggressivum f. aggressivum (responsible for green mold). Passaged casing had a suppressive effect on Blotch disease and a conducive effect on Green mold disease. Blotch suppression resulted in a significantly higher yield of asymptomatic mushrooms in all three mushroom harvests (flushes) and in the overall crop yield. Blotch severity was also significantly reduced in passaged casing compared to standard casing due to a lower yield of mushrooms with the highest degree of Blotch disease expression. Green mold disease expression was markedly higher in passaged casing, leading to lower numbers of asymptomatic mushrooms. Zones where no growth of hyphae or mushrooms were also observed in passaged casing due to Green mold disease pressure. The stimulating effect of passaged casing on mushroom development and the dynamic outcomes for disease challenge from two distinct, commercially damaging diseases, demonstrates the potential for passaged casing to be used as material to study more sustainable mushroom production and disease management practices.
