Control of the Green Mold: in vitro Antagonistic Activity of Bacillus
and Pseudomonas spp.
Abstract
During the cultivation of button mushrooms, the green mold epidemic,
which causes a decrease in productivity, is a very important problem.
The environmental harm of chemicals used in the control of such
epidemics and the demand of consumers for organic products without
chemicals have brought environmentally friendly biological control to
the fore. Biological control can be achieved by the use of antagonistic
microorganisms and their metabolites. In this study, the effectiveness
of Bacillus and Pseudomonas spp. for the biological control of the green
mold disease agent Trichoderma aggressivum subsp. in Agaricus bisporus
cultivation was examined. For this purpose, the antifungal effects of
Bacillus and Pseudomonas spp. against T. aggressivum strains were
examined by an in vitro dual culture test and the agar well diffusion
method. Then, it was determined whether the bacterial strains showing
antifungal activity showed antagonistic activity against A. bisporus.
Although none of the Pseudomonas spp. showed antifungal activity against
T. aggressivum strains, most of the Bacillus spp. were found to have
high activity. It has been concluded that Bacillus sp. Ö-4-82, which
shows high antifungal activity against T. aggressivum subsp. and low
antagonism against A. bisporus, may be potential biological control
agents for button mushroom cultivation.