Lecanicillium fungicola– Dry Bubble disease
Dry Bubble is the common name given to a serious fungal disease affecting cultivated Agaricus bisporus crops. It is caused by the soil-borne mycoparasites Lecanicillium fungicola var fungicola (syn: Verticillium fungicola; Verticillium malthousei) which is found in Europe and Lecanicillium fungicola var aleophilum which is more common in North American Agaricus crops, including Agaricus bitorquis. Dry Bubble is consistently the most significant problem facing growers wherever button mushrooms are grown, including Australia.
Lecanicillium fungicola was first identified as a mushroom pathogen in France in 1892 and was described as the causal agent of ‘La mole’ disease, the French term for what we now refer to as Dry Bubble. But despite more than 130 years since its first appearance, Dry Bubble continues to have a detrimental impact on mushroom production. The disease causes significant losses estimated at 2-4% of total revenue annually and poor control of the disease may result in losses approaching 20-25% or more, while uncontrolled disease can result in farm closure.
