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Abstract: In the face of increasing energy and labour costs, established growers are continuously seeking to improve traditional cultural systems both to reduce inputs and improve quality. Further, the market potential of mushrooms continues to encourage their production in areas where they have never been grown before and where traditional substrates are not available. In these situations unusual materials are exploited, often in environments in which there is no previous experience of mushroom production. Progress in our industry is, therefore, a continuous process and the associated changes, or should I say adventures, have ecological consequences which pests are only too ready to exploit. However, a striking feature of the known complex of mushroom pests is its apparent constancy throughout the world. The complex can be ecologically divided into two broad groups. The mycelial feeders, the primary pest species, include phorids, cecids, the mite Tarsonemus myceliophagus and the eeelworms Ditylenchus destructor and Aphelenchoides composticola. Other organisms associated with compost which is, or has become, unsuitable for mycelial growth include flies of the families Sciaridae, Drosophilidae and Sphaeroceridae; Rhizoglyphid and Pygmephorus mites and rhabditid eel worms. To understand the threat which pests may post to new cultural techniques we must evaluate their past and present status.
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