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Since the early 1990s, the epidemic of green mold on the cultivated mushroom Agaricus bisporus in North America has been caused by Trichoderma aggressivum f. aggressivum. The findings of earlier research suggested that the microevolutionary emergence of T. aggressivum f. aggressivum coincided with the onset of the epidemic. This hypothesis was tested further by determining the disease susceptibility of mushroom strains grown widely before the epidemic manifested. The results of complementary methods of analysis, which entailed a grain protection assay and cropping trials, established that two pre-epidemic strains were more susceptible to green mold than three post-epidemic strains being cultivated at the time of the epidemic. Thus, if T. aggressivum f. aggressivum had been present within cultivated mushrooms prior to the epidemic, it should have been detected. It still appears to be true that T. aggressivum f. aggressivum emerged during the 1990s in a manner that remains unclear.

Statistical analyses were performed on spatial distributions of mushroom green mold foci caused by Trichoderma spp. in 30 standard Pennsylvania doubles (743 m 2 production surface) selected at random from over 900 total crops mapped. Mapped production houses were divided into four tiers of six beds each with 16 sections per bed (total = 384 sections per double). Each section contained approximately 2 m 2 . Green mold foci were mapped according to presence or absence in each section as they became visible during the course of the mushroom production. There was a trend toward higher disease incidence at the ends of the doubles, although this was not consistent from level to level. Spatial analysis revealed that green mold foci were more likely to occur in neighboring sections along the beds rather than above, below, or across from each other. Cultural practices that were associated with movement along the beds, i.e., nutrient supplementation, spawning, bed tamping, surface covering, etc., were considered the most likely factors influencing the incidence of green mold in spawned compost. Airborne contamination was considered a less likely source of inocula contributing to epidemic development. Sanitation practices that reduce spore loads along the beds are expected to provide the greatest degree of green mold control.