Application of Mushroom in the Management of Pest and Diseases Affecting Agricultural Crops

Abstract

Pathogenic microbe is one major element that leads to agricultural production loss, which can reduce crop output and quality. Synthetic pesticides are necessary for farmers to hinder crop diseases and pests. Ecological and surrounding issues like soil compression, resistant weed growth, and pesticide use have become significant, leading to serious negative impacts on agriculture's continual advancement. Biocontrol of plant pathogen using fungi (mushroom) is a substitute for synthetic chemicals. The utilization of plant suppressors inhibits disease-causing microbes in plants. Pathogens and plants relate with vase number of microbes, and this interplay directly or indirectly affects plants’ health. Various mechanisms have been employed for biocontrol like competition, parasitism, antibiosis, and induced resistance in plants. Moreover, different properties of mushrooms as biocontrol agents have also been identified. Secondary metabolites secreted by some species of basidiomycetes have been shown to have antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, and nematocidal activity agents plant pathogens. Biocontrol microbes h a v e also been treated with sprinkling methods on foliar diseases like leaf spots. This chapter has explored mushrooms as a means of controlling pests and diseases on various crops. Among the various types of fungi, basidiomycetes species in particular is recognized as an organism that functions as microbes and insect benefactor and a biological regulator using different mechanisms for many fungi and plant-pathogenic bacteria.