Studies of the Effects of Benomyl and Carbendazim on Trichoderma Green Mould Control in ButtonMushroom Farms

The effects of two fungicides, benomyl and carbendazim, on control of Trichoderma green mould disease of white button mushroom were investigated. Six concentrations of each fungicides were tested on four Trichoderma species including T. harzianum, T. longibrachiatum, T. virens and Trichoderma sp. The concentrations were 10, 25, 50, 100, 150 and 500 ppm. Mean growth of each species of Trichoderma was measured after five days. This study was conducted as food poisoning method and the inhibition percent of Trichoderma species mycelial growth was measured, using the Vincent (1947) equation. ED50 index was used to compare the effect of two fungicides on disease causing agent. After measuring the inhibition percent of Trichoderma mycelial growth, probit analysis was done. The results showed that the inhibition of mycelial growth of Trichoderma species by these fungicides did not have sigmoid curve. There was significant difference between two fungicides for their effect on Trichoderma species. Also there was significant differences among the Trichoderma species in sensitivity to different concentrations of these fungicides. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the carbendazim is more effective than Benomyl. The sensitivity of each Trichoderma species against the fungicides were estimated. The effects of these fungicides on controlling green mould and mushroom yield also were studied. The use of each fungicide increased the yield as compared to control. Furthermore, carbendazim increased the yield more than benomyl.