Industrial visit at DMR Solan, HP

Building a food surplus and healthy nation should not only be in the priority list of governments but it should be the duty of scientific community as well. As a part of our teaching and training and to provide biotechnology students an exposure of research and production of advanced foods, an educational visit was organized for B.Sc. Biotechnology – Semester V and M.Sc. 1st semesters students by Department of Biotechnology, CCP Landran to Directorate of Mushroom research (DMR), a directorate of Indian council of agricultural research (ICAR), New Delhi, located in Solan city, HP and in the past 25 years of its existence, it has made significant contribution in the field of mushroom research and development in the country. By the concerted efforts of the scientist of DMR, mushroom productivity in the country has almost doubled while production has registered a six fold increase. Currently DMR is working on collection, identification, conservation and genetic characterization of mushroom germplasm, development of high yielding varieties, improvements in the production technologies of different edible mushrooms, technology development for newer varieties of mushrooms, integrated pest and disease management, post harvest technologies for various mushrooms and imparting trainings to the entrepreneurs, growers, unemployed youths and women growers.

50 students of B.Sc. Semester IV along with 2 faculty members visited the DMR on 4th March 2016 and learnt about the different varieties of mushrooms, there benefits and advantages. Mr.Guler elaborated the techniques for making compost for growing White Button mushroom, Shiitake-Paddy straw mushroom (having anti-cancerous properties) and Pink-oyster mushroom and also the techniques to make the spawn of mushroom. Edible mushrooms are a rich source of proteins and can be used as regular part of diet for people who can’t afford expensive protein sources. One of our department’s alumni Mr. Rakesh Saklani ( Batch 2010) is already working on these lines by opening up his mushroom farm and is developing himself into a successful mushroom-entrepreneur. Students were also told about the entrepreneurial training programmes at DMR for developing business in mushroom production. Overall it was a very fruitful visit as students raised a lot of queries and showed great interest in mushroom cultivation and harvesting techniques.