The MushTV-project aims at providing mushroom businesses with research-based solutions to deal with Trichoderma aggressivum, Mushroom Virus X (MVX) and other common mushroom diseases. As a basis for integrated pest management (IPM), the project will study epidemiology of the target organisms, will deliver improved diagnostics and will select useful disinfectants and biopesticides.
During the last decades, mushroom compost production is centralized in compost facilities. This centralized method of producing and transporting substrate offers big advantages to the industry, but also has its weaknesses, mainly being the easy spread within the production system of compost-associated diseases. Examples of the latter are Trichoderma aggressivum and MVX.
Diseases which affect centralized bulk-produced compost have the potential to cause serious economic losses due to the large scale of the operation and the large number of growers that can be involved. Therefore this project aims at controlling these diseases, first of all by obtaining a better understanding of how Trichoderma and MVX infect mushroom compost, and how they are spread around the industry.
To avoid that infected compost would be distributed to the mushroom growers the project also will search for improved molecular diagnostics for MVX and a new volatile-based diagnostic for Trichodermato get an early detection of Trichoderma in compost tunnels.
The withdrawal of many plant protection chemicals in the mushroom sector force us to search for preventive control measures. In this context the project will gather information about the best disinfectants to kill Trichoderma and MVX. A selection of possible products will be tested for their efficacy under semi-industrial conditions.
The last aim of this project is to test the efficacy of a promising biopesticide, based on the bacteria Bacillus subtilis, for the control of Dry bubble, wet bubble, cobweb and Trichoderma.
The MushTV-project is an seventh framework programme (no: 286836) coordinated by Teagasc – agriculture and food development authority (Ireland) in collaboration with Inagro and 14 other partners (Commercial mushroom producers (IRL), Vereniging onafhankelijke champignontelers (B), Stowarzyszenie Branzy Grzybow Uprawnych (PL), Funghi (NL), Stichting dienst landbouwkundig onderzoek (NL), East Malling Research (GB), Agrifood and biosciences institute (GB), The circa group Europe (IRL), The agriculture and horticulture development board (GB), International mushrooms LTD (IRL), Hooijmans compost (NL), Karel Sterckx (B), Custom compost (IRL) and CNC grondstoffen (NL).
