Shimla
A five-day training on mushroom cultivation was organized by the Department of Plant Pathology, Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni under the ‘All India Coordinated Research Project on Mushrooms’. Twenty participants from Shimla, Solan, Sirmour, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Lahaul and Spiti, and Chamba districts took part in the training.
During the training, farmers were apprised about the different aspects like setting up a mushroom unit, cultivation technology of button mushroom, oyster mushroom, shiitake mushroom, lion’s mane mushroom, and Ganoderma mushroom, along with disease and pest management and marketing. The farmers were provided hands-on training on compost preparation, substrate preparation, spawning, oyster and shiitake bag filling, spawning and pickle preparation. Various experts from the university along with experts from different institutions like the Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan delivered lectures during the training programme. The participants were also taken for an exposure visit to the Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan.
During the valedictory session, Dr. Dharmesh Gupta, Coordinator of the training program briefed about the importance and scope of the training program in the near future of the mushroom growers while Dr. Satish Sharma, HOD Department of Plant Pathology deliberated the importance of different kinds of mushrooms in our daily life. Dr Sanjeev Chauhan, Director of Research highlighted the importance of cultivating mushrooms with special emphasis on medicinal mushrooms. He urged the young trainees to set up their own enterprises in this field. Dr. Chauhan also distributed the certificates to the participants.
