BIOMUSH

Early detection and bio-control of mushroom pests and diseases in an Integrated Pest Management approach to comply with the European Directive 2009/128/EU

 Partecipanti

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Cultivation of edible mushrooms Agaricus Bisporus in Europe is an economically valuable Industry that employs 50,000 employees with a production 965,000 tonnes and 1,300M Euros sales. Pests and diseases in this industry causes loses of 60M Euros related to Pest control. The main pest insects causing crop losses in Europe are Sciarid flies, whereas the main diseases are the fungus Verticillium, Mycogone, Dactilium and Tricoderma. Many chemicals are no longer approved for use, and with an increased demand for reduced pesticide use. Mushroom growers have an increased pressure to implement these alternatives on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 and Directive 2009/128/EC. Quick actions and IPM solutions are therefore urgently needed for mushroom growers as reported by their national associations in order to adapt to a stringent legislation to reduce pesticide use. The main aim of BIOMUSH project is to help European mushroom growers to implement IPM as part of their growing activities both to comply with the upcoming legislation and to reduce crop losses and production costs by efficiently manage pests and diseases. The main objectives: -Develop a tool for early detection of mushroom fungal diseases in situ to facilitate the control of competitor fungi and fungal diseases increasing productivity by 4%; -Provide novel biopesticides for the treatment of pests and diseases in mushroom; -Develop crop specific guidelines for Integrated Pest Management in mushroom crops in Europe; -Training to professional users and distributors. By facilitating the implementation of IPM techniques in mushroom, growers will be able to comply with the upcoming regulation which encourages natural pest control mechanisms reducing pesticides use per farm by at least 70% (3,472 Tons in Europe after 5 years). The combined approach of early detection of fungal diseases and use of biopestices will provide a tool that will reduce yield losses caused by pests and diseases by around 48%.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Researchers are developing and testing a pest control system for the European mushroom industry that avoids the use of environmentally harmful synthetic chemicals.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Mushroom growers in Europe are faced with growing global competition and strict new legislation on the use of chemical pesticides. New integrated pest management (IPM) strategies are required for the sector to remain competitive.

The EU-funded http://www.biomush.eu (BIOMUSH) project is addressing this by developing an IPM strategy for Agaricus bisporus, the most common cultivated mushroom. The project is developing sensors, biofungicides and biopesticides, as well as information resources for white button mushroom growers.

A. bisporus is susceptible to several fungal diseases for which BIOMUSH has identified key biomarkers. These have been used to develop, build and test a biosensor for the early detection of fungal infections.

Another aspect of project work involved examining 28 plant compounds for fungicidal and insecticidal properties. Promising compounds were pooled into general purpose biopesticides, which could control approximately 70 % of fungal infections in most of the cases.

In addition to pest management research, BIOMUSH will develop guidelines and a training plan. These will assist mushroom growers in using the new tools.

The recent changes in pesticide legislation have threatened the success of European mushroom farms. However, by developing new tools and guidelines for IPM, BIOMUSH will help reduce losses and improve productivity in the mushroom sector.