Mite community on Polish mushroom farms
2017
Szafranek, Piotr | Lewandowski, Mariusz
Previous information on the mite community of mushroom houses was given at the beginning of the 1980s. After more than 20 years during which crops technology has been improved, a repetition of these studies revealed changes in species composition of mites infesting mushroom houses. Mites are a common group of arthropods inhabiting mushroom production facilities, and some species are important pests. Mite sampling was conducted in 24 mushroom farms in Poland to document present species and to compare the findings with earlier published studies. Fourteen species of mites belonging to nine families were found in the growing medium. These mites represented three different types of feeding habits: predatory, mycophagous and saprophagous. The mycophagous mite Pediculaster mesembrinae (Canestrini, 1880) was the most common species in the studied mushroom houses, whereas Parasitus bituberosus Karg, 1972 was the most frequent predatory species in this habitat. Saprophagous mites were represented by Histiostoma feroniarum (Dufour, 1839). The infestation parameters suggest that the casing layer was a more favourable environment for the mites’ development than compost. Pediculaster mesembrinae and P. bituberosus were also dominant species present on mushroom fruits collected from both growth chambers and cold stores.
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