By Blake Jackson
A study from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences suggests that microorganisms from mushroom-growing material could enhance future fungi crops.
Researchers explored how enriching mushroom casing typically peat moss with used casing from a previous crop, a method called “passaging,” affects mushroom growth and disease resistance.
The study revealed that mushrooms grown in microbiome-enriched casing reached their pinning stage when fruiting begins earlier than those grown in standard casing.
Additionally, these mushrooms showed increased resistance to bacterial blotch, a common fungal disease. However, they were more susceptible to green mold disease when exposed to its pathogen.
Eoin O'Connor, postdoctoral scholar in plant pathology and environmental microbiology and lead author of the study, highlighted the potential of this approach while acknowledging its challenges.
“While this approach shows promise for improving early development and suppressing bacterial blotch, its tendency to amplify green mold disease expression highlights the need for further studies,” O’Connor said. “Ideally, future research could help identify a set of microbes that provides the desirable traits of passaged casing without the potential negative side effects.”
Button mushrooms are grown worldwide, but Pennsylvania is particularly significant, producing nearly two-thirds of the U.S. supply. The researchers aimed to assess how microbiome manipulation in mushroom casing could influence major fungal diseases.
“These economically important diseases are responsible for causing significant crop losses in button mushroom cultivation,” O’Connor explained.
“By addressing these diseases, this work contributes to developing sustainable practices for mushroom cultivation and offers a model system to study the broader impact of microbiomes on horticultural productivity.”
To conduct the study, the team grew button mushrooms and collected casing once the fungi fruited. They then mixed it into fresh casing at a 1:10 ratio and repeated this process for 10 cycles. The final batch of enriched casing was tested against bacterial blotch and green mold disease.
The results confirmed that mushrooms in treated casing reached the pinning stage up to three days earlier and had lower bacterial blotch symptoms. However, green mold disease was more severe in microbiome-enriched casing.
Photo Credit: istock-guruxoox
Categories: Pennsylvania, Education