Effect of Agaricus brasiliensis and Lentinula edodes Mushrooms on the Infection of Passionflower with Cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the protection of passion fruit plants against CABMV by using preparations from Agaricus brasiliensis and Lentinula edodes mushrooms. In experiments carried out in the greenhouse, the fruiting body extracts from some of the isolates of both mushrooms significantly reduced CABMV incidence in passion fruit plants. This protective effect occurred when the plant leaves, pre-treated with extracts, were later inoculated mechanically with the virus. However, the extracts did not protect the plants in experiments involving CABMV transmission by aphid vectors. An inhibitory effect of mushroom extracts on the virus particles was also demonstrated on Chenopodium quinoa, a CABMV local lesion host, by inoculating the plants with a mixture of extracts and virus suspension. Still in C. quinoa, the mushroom extracts from some isolates induced systemic resistance against the virus. These results showed that aqueous extracts from A. brasiliensis and L. edodes fruiting bodies had CABMV infectivity inhibitors, but that was not enough to control the viral disease on passion fruit plants at all, considering they were infected through a vector.