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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2006, p. 7212-7217, Vol. 72, No. 11
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01369-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Temporal and Spatial Dispersal of Cladobotryum Conidia in the Controlled Environment of a Mushroom Growing Room{triangledown}

Bruce Adie,1,{dagger} Helen Grogan,1* Simon Archer,2 and Peter Mills1

Warwick HRI, The University of Warwick, Wellesbourne, Warwick CV35 9EF,1 Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom2

Received 14 June 2006/ Accepted 1 September 2006

Cladobotryum spp. are responsible for cobweb disease of mushrooms. In two commercial and one experimental mushroom-growing room, Cladobotryum conidia were released into the air in direct response to physical disturbance of disease colonies during either crop watering or treatment by covering with salt to 10 mm. Conidia were detected using a Burkard spore trap or agar-based trap plates. A maximum concentration of ~25,000 conidia m–3 was recorded in a small (75-m3) experimental growing room in the hour following the salting of 16 cobweb patches (0.55 m2). Concentrations of 100 and 40 conidia m–3 were recorded in the two larger commercial growing rooms in the hour following the salting of 18 and 11 patches of cobweb (diameter, approximately 50 to 200 mm), respectively. In controlled experiments, disturbed conidia were dispersed rapidly throughout a small growing room, with 91 to 97% of conidia settling out within 15 min. Eighty-five percent of conidia settled out within a 0.5-m radius when air-conditioning fans were switched off, consistent with airborne spore dispersal. Alternative methods for treating diseased areas to minimize conidial release and distribution were investigated and included covering disease colonies with damp paper tissue prior to salt application (tissue salting) and holding a dust extractor above disease colonies during salt application. Both methods resulted in no detectable airborne conidia, but the tissue paper salting technique was more convenient. Prevention of airborne conidial release and distribution is essential to avoid mushroom spotting symptoms, secondary colonies, and early crop termination.


* Corresponding author. Present address: Teagasc, Kinsealy Research and Development Centre, Malahide Road, Kinsealy, Dublin 17, Ireland. Phone: 353 18460644. Fax: 353 18460524. E-mail: helen.grogan{at}teagasc.ie.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 15 September 2006.

{dagger} Present address: Departamento de Genetica Molecular de Plantas, Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia-CSIC, Darwin 3, Campus Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, E-28049, Madrid, Spain.


Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2006, p. 7212-7217, Vol. 72, No. 11
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01369-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.