Evaluation of Non-Pesticidal Chemicals to Control Dry Bubble Disease Caused by Lecanicillium fungicola in Edible Mushroom, Agaricus bisporus

This study was conducted at the mushroom production farm affiliated with the College of Agriculture, University of Tikrit, from 2022 to 2023. Some non-pesticidal compounds were evaluated against Agaricus bisporus mushrooms under dry bubble disease conditions caused by the fungus Lecanicillium fungicola. The efficacy of citric acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, sodium bicarbonate, and hydrogen peroxide was determined. The effect of salts such as zinc sulfate, iron sulfate, copper sulfate, magnesium sulfate, manganese sulfate, and sodium molybdate for virulence factor reduction and chitinase extracted from the pathogenic fungus was measured. Citric acid controlled the disease and enhanced the productivity and qualitative properties of A. bisporus. The results indicated that the lowest infection rate was 22.93% after treating with citric acid + pathogenic fungus, compared to 69.98% after inoculation with the pathogenic fungus alone. The severity of infection was 11.12% after citric acid treatment, which was 63.94% if the pathogen alone was inoculated. After this treatment, the highest fresh weight of fruit bodies was recorded (1908.38 g/20 kg compost). The biological efficiency recorded was as high as 47.71% compared to the lowest at 21.48% due to the pathogenic fungus. Hydrogen peroxide + pathogenic fungus demonstrated the highest hardness rate of 8.16 kg/cm2 compared to the lowest effect in the pathogenic fungus treatment, with a hardness rate of 3.61 kg/cm2. Moreover, citric acid was suitable for retaining the highest protein content in the mushrooms (31.49%), which was only 18.1% in the pathogen treatment alone.. KEYWORDS :Agaricus bisporus, Dry bubble disease, Lecanicillium fungicola, Mineral salts, Organic acids