Antifungal activity of medicinal plant essential oils against Mycogone perniciosa, causal agent of wet bubble and their effects on button mushroom

One of the most common pathogenic diseases of the button mushroom in Iran is wet bubble (Mycogone perniciosa). In this study, in order to develop a biological control system and production of healthy crop, the antifungal effect of aromatic medicinal plants were assayed as a safe replacement for chemical fungicides. M. perniciosa was isolated from infected A. bisporus cv. Sylvan 737. In order to evaluate the biocontrol possibility, the effect of six medicinal plant essential oils including garlic, horsemint, oregano, lavender, kotschyam thyme and eucalyptus were tested against M. perniciosa and evaluated their effects on button mushroom mycelium at 100, 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 µl l-1 in vitro. Based on the results, kotschyam thyme and oregano were more toxic and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) for M. perniciosa were 300 and 500 µl l-1, respectively. Interestingly, among the investigated essential oils, garlic oil showed a fungicidal effect on M. perniciosa at a lower concentration (MFC=1000 µl l-1) than button mushroom (MFC=1400 µl l-1). In general, garlic and lavender essential oils were found as the most effective and weakest oils against M. perniciosa, respectively. GC-MS analysis demonstrated that Trisulfide, di-2-propenyl, Piperitenone oxide,Thymol,1,8-Cineole, Thymol and Spathulenol were the main components of the above essential oils, respectively. It seems that garlic oil can be considered as a good alternative in biological control of wet bubble diseaseaccording to this research and considering consumerist tastes after additional researches.