Rapid evaluation technique to differentiate mushroom disease-related moulds by detecting microbial volatile organic...

Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to analyse microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) of mushroom disease-related microorganisms. Mycogone perniciosa, Lecanicillum fungicola var. fungicola, and Trichoderma aggressivum f. europaeum species, which are typically harmful in mushroom cultivation, were examined, and Agaricus bisporus (bisporic button mushroom) was also examined as a control. For internal standard, a mixture of alkanes was used; these were introduced as the memory effect of primed septa in the vial seal. Several different marker compounds were found in each sample, which enabled us to distinguish the different moulds and the mushroom mycelium from each other. Monitoring of marker compounds enabled us to investigate the behaviour of moulds. The records of the temporal pattern changes were used to produce partial least squares regression (PLS-R) models that enabled determination of the exact time of contamination (the infection time of the media). Using these evaluation techniques, the presence of mushroom disease-related fungi can be easily detected and monitored via their emitted MVOCs.