How does the Coprinus mushroom disease occur?
Coprinus belongs to the Basidiomycotina, Hymenomycetes, Agaricales, Coprinaceae, genus Coprinus. Common species include Coprinus atramentarius (Bull.) Fr., Coprinus fuscescens (Schaeff.) Fr., Coprinus comatus (Muell. ex FX.) Gray (shaggy mane), Coprinus sterquilinus Fr., and Coprinus micaceus (Bull.) Fr.
1. Morphological characteristics The common morphological feature of Coprinus species is that the cap is initially bullet-shaped or oval, jade white, grayish white or grayish yellow, with most surfaces bearing scaly hairs. The stipe is slender and hollow. After maturity, the cap expands, the gills turn from white to black, and finally autolyze together with the cap into an ink-like liquid. The spores are black, oval, and mixed within the ink.
2. Disease occurrence patterns
(1) Transmission routes Coprinus often occurs on horse, cattle and sheep manure and compost, on poorly fermented material piles, and large numbers of Coprinus spores are also often present on moldy or damp rice straw, cottonseed hulls and other raw materials. It is spread by air and by spore-bearing substrates and coverings. Once Coprinus has appeared, it autolyzes rapidly after the cap opens and spreads again with the ink-like liquid.
(2) Conditions for occurrence In terms of nutrition, excessive addition of nitrogen sources to the substrate, or excessive fermentation that produces acid and releases excessive ammonia; it prefers high temperature and high humidity environments, mostly occurring in hot summer and on moist substrates; an acidic environment very easily induces massive occurrence of Coprinus.
(3) Growth characteristics Coprinus grows fast, appears early and has a short cycle. For example, Coprinus micaceus takes about 7 hours from fruiting body formation to cap opening, about 8 hours from cap opening to autolysis of the fruiting body, and only 24 hours from fruiting body formation to complete autolysis; it produces many spores, has strong reproductive capacity and strikes fiercely. A single Coprinus comatus releases more than 5 billion spores, and once it occurs it can easily cause devastating damage.
3. Damage symptoms There are no obvious symptoms before the Coprinus fruiting bodies appear. After the fruiting bodies grow out of the casing surface, many small grayish-black agaric mushrooms can be seen, growing extremely fast, ephemeral, covering the entire bed surface. In Ganoderma casing cultivation, this fungus can be seen occurring, competing with Ganoderma for water and nutrients, causing reduced yield or total crop failure.
4. Control methods
(1) Select dry, fresh, mold-free raw materials and sun-dry them for 2 days before use. When the raw materials are piled for fermentation, the material temperature must reach above 70°C and the pile must be turned promptly. The carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and moisture content of the formula must be reasonable.
(2) Before casing, the soil must be sealed and fumigated with a 5% formaldehyde solution.
(3) Once Coprinus occurs, it should be pulled out promptly before the caps open and burned or buried deep.