# Inhibitory Effects of Origanum vulgare Essential Oil on Mycogone perniciosa Growth in Agaricus bisporus Cultivation

## TL;DR

This study shows that Origanum vulgare essential oil can effectively inhibit the growth of Mycogone perniciosa, a fungus that causes significant losses in Agaricus bisporus mushroom cultivation.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates the superior antifungal potential of Origanum vulgare essential oil compared to a commercial fungicide against Mycogone perniciosa.

## Key findings

- Origanum vulgare essential oil inhibited Mycogone perniciosa growth more effectively than Prochloraz-Mn in microatmospheric tests.
- A 2% concentration of the essential oil completely inhibited M. perniciosa in experimentally induced wet bubble disease on Agaricus bisporus.
- Carvacrol, p-cymene, γ-terpinene, and thymol were identified as the dominant components of the essential oil.

## Abstract

Mycogone perniciosa is the causative agent of wet bubble disease, which induces significant losses in the production of Agaricus bisporus, indicating the high importance of the development of novel inhibitory agents. The isolation, identification, and molecular characterization of five isolates of M. perniciosa from diseased fruit bodies of A. bisporus was done. Moreover, the study evaluated the in vitro and in situ potential of Origanum vulgare essential oil (EO) to limit M. perniciosa growth and provided chemical characterization of its volatile components. The obtained strains differed phenotypically and according to their molecular characteristics. O. vulgare EO has shown more promising antifungal activity than the commercial fungicide Prochloraz-Mn in the microatmospheric method. In the treatment of experimentally induced wet bubble disease on A. bisporus in the growing chambers with 2% of O. vulgare EO and simultaneous application of spore suspension of mycopathogen, O. vulgare EO totally inhibited the growth of M. perniciosa. Carvacrol, p-cymene, γ-terpinene, and thymol were dominant constituents of O. vulgare EO examined in this study. O. vulgare EO has shown promising potential to limit growth of M. perniciosa and should be further explored as a novel biofungicide.