Today mushroom cultivation has become one of the money making sources in industry and trade all around the world. Due to its production system, this rich nutritional product is under the attack of several pest agents. In this study, the arthropods existing in mushroom c
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Today mushroom cultivation has become one of the money making sources in industry and trade all around the world. Due to its production system, this rich nutritional product is under the attack of several pest agents. In this study, the arthropods existing in mushroom cultivation systems was collected through two production stages, spawning and casing from six production units in Zarandieh county, Marakazi province. Samples were separated by Berlese funnel and retained in Ethanol 70%; then identified by certified resources. The abundance of each species was caulcuated and the mean density of different species were compared statistically. In total, 1814 samples belonging to different orders of Insecta and Acari were collected. 790 samples were collected through spawning and 1024 samples through casing. Collected arthropods belonging to 15 species under 14 genera and 11 families. Tyrophagus putrescentiae was the most abundant species (18.91 ± 2.06%) with significant difference. Megaselia halterata (14.39± 1.88 %) and Lycoriella auripila (11.87 ± 0.47) were the most abundant species, subsequently. Among the collected species, two predators, Atheta coriaria and M. galber were identified. Most of the collected species were saprophagous and infected compost would be a possible way to introduce them into the mushroom cultivation systems. Samples like M. halterata, Megaselia scalaris, L. auripila, Colbodia fuscipes and T. putrescentiae were mycophagous and could make direct damage to mushroom product. Compost sterilizing would be an effective way to eliminate pest arthropods in mushroom cultivation systems.
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