Morchella is a highly valued edible and medicinal fungus with significant nutritional and economic value. In recent years, with the development of artificial cultivation techniques, the planting area of Morchella has been expanding continuously, while the incidence of fungal diseases has also increased sharply, seriously affecting its yield and quality and further restricting the development of the Morchella industry. To date, ten fungal diseases of Morchella have been reported, mainly including white mold, cobweb disease, pileus rot and fungal rot. The mycoparasitic fungi responsible for these diseases can infect Morchella by secreting proteins and secondary metabolites, while Morchella responds to fungal disease stress through genetic and metabolic regulation. Currently, biological control strategies for Morchella fungal diseases primarily rely on antagonistic microorganisms and natural products. This review summarizes the research progress on major fungal diseases of Morchella, including their causal fungi, pathogenic factors and infection mechanisms, host response mechanisms, and biological control. It also identifies existing research gaps and prospects for future research directions.
Zhao et al. (2026) studied this question.