iBET participates in European Project BioMush aiming at the development of new Integrated Pest Management

Associations of Mushroom growers launch a European Project to develop a new Integrated Pest Management to comply with European Directive 2009/128/EU related to the bio-control of pests and diseases BioMush is a Capacity project financed by 7^th European Framework Program (7PM), through the Research Executive Agency (REA). It received a budget of approximately €1.5 million, for 36 months. The main idea behind BioMush is to help European mushroom growers to implement the principles of integrated pest management (IPM) as part of their growing activities, both to comply with the upcoming legislation and to reduce crop losses and production costs by efficiently managing pest diseases. BioMush started on the 1^st of November, 2012, with the final participation of 11 partners, from 7 European countries: Electrochemical Chemical Sensor Technology Ltd (EST; United Kingdom), Lincis Soluções Integradas Para Sistemas De Informação (LINCIS; Portugal); Agrochemicals, development and Marketing Ltd. (AGRON; Israel); Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (IBET; Portugal); INSPIRALIA (INSP; Spain);  Centre Technique du Champignon (CTC; France); Centro Tecnológico de Investigación del Champiñón de La Rioja (CTICH; Spain); Association Nationale Interprofesionnelle du Champignon de Couche (ANICC; France); Stowarzyszenie Branży Grzybów Uprawnych (SBGU; Poland); Consorzio Funghi di Treviso (FTREV; Italy); and Reciclados de Compost de La Mancha SCL (RECOMSA; Spain). iBET participates in the Project as a Research and Technological Development (RTD) partner, being responsible for the selection of appropriate biomarkers for the detection of pathogenic fungi causing mushroom diseases. Additionally, iBET will also be responsible for implementing the necessary analytical tools for the detection of the selected biomarkers.