0239–3006/$ 20.00 © 2014 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest Acta Alimentaria, Vol. 43 (Suppl.), pp. 107–113 (2014) DOI: 10.1556/AAlim.43.2014.Suppl.16 EARLY DETECTION OF COBWEB DISEASE INFECTION ON AGARICUS BISPORUS SPOROCARPS USING HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING V. PARRAG a *, J. FELFÖLDI a , L. BARANYAI a , A. GEÖSEL b and F. FIRTHA a a Department of Physics and Control, Faculty of Food Science, Corvinus University of Budapest, H-1118 Budapest, Somlói út 14–16. Hungary b Department of Vegetable and Mushroom Growing, Faculty of Horticultural Science, Corvinus University of Budapest, H-1118 Budapest, Ménesi út 44. Hungary (Received: 14 April 2014; accepted: 25 July 2014) From the nineteen-nineties, cobweb disease caused serious losses for the mushroom sector in Europe, in the USA, and in Australia (FLETCHER & GAZE, 2008), so it is one of the most notable fungal infections of cultivated white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus). The aim of this study was to identify cobweb disease (Cladobortyum dendroides) caused cap spotting and brownish rot on the mushroom sporocarp, and to find a proper discrimination method in the case of this infection. Fruiting body samples were divided into 4 groups, a control one and three others treated with different chemicals that are tested against fungal infections. The groups were subdivided into 2 portions and the first was infected with cobweb disease. Images of the caps were recorded and their hyperspectral images were acquired in the wavelength range of 900–1700 nm. On the hyperspectral images infected and healthy areas were selected, on these average spectra differences were found around the known water peaks (1200 and 1450 nm). The spatial distribution of the water content can be used for the detection of the spoilage, because the infected areas showed different reflection values at these water absorption peaks. Support Vector Machine method was applied successfully to discriminate between the infected and control groups and Monte Carlo cross-validation was carried out. Keywords: mushroom, Cladobotryum, Dactylium, HSI, SVM, MCCV The chemical composition of mushrooms is beneficial for health (because of protein constitution, high polysaccharide content, Vitamin B and D 2 content), so they became more popular amongst customers in the last years (WANI et al., 2010). White button mushroom (A. bisporus) is one of the most widely cultivated mushrooms in the world, around one third of the total global mushroom production is dedicated to the production of A. bisporus species (GEÖSEL et al., 2011). Button mushroom can be attacked by some viral or bacterial diseases, microscopic fungi and insects, which cause great losses for the mushroom sector. Cobweb disease is a well- known fungal infection, caused by two subspecies of Cladobotryum dendroides (synonym of Dactylium dendroides FLETCHER & GAZE, 2008; MYCOBANK, 2014). The name of this disease refers to its most typical symptom, when the cobweb-like mycelial growth appears on the surface of the fruiting body or the casing soil. The fruiting body becomes light brown and * To whom correspondence should be addressed. Phone: +36-1-482-6023; fax: +36-1-482-6361; e-mail: viktoria.parrag@uni-corvinus.hu