Under the Experiential Learning
Programme (ELP), School of Agriculture (SOA), Uttaranchal University, Dehradun
organized a hands-on training program on "Mushroom Cultivation" from
25 February 2024 to 25 April 2024 in the university campus. The objective of
the training session was to develop skills among the agriculture students in identifying,
isolating, and cultivating edible mushrooms.
In
the different sessions of this training programme students were acquainted with
the taxonomy of edible mushrooms their identification keys, the selection of healthy
fruiting bodies, the preparation of culture media for the isolation of pure
cultures, and their growth. They also learnt about the methods of substrate
sterilization, conditions required for the incubation of fungal mycelia, and
disease management of mushrooms. In an additional session, they gained
knowledge on raw materials, processing of raw materials, sterilization of casing soil, optimizing the
environmental conditions for spawn preparation and
development of fruiting bodies, harvesting, post-harvesting, and value addition
of the fruiting bodies of the edible mushrooms. Lastly, participating students
engaged in packaging and selling edible mushrooms in the university campus
during which they developed communication and marketing skills. Ms Ankita Joshi, Pro Chancellor appreciated
the active participation of students in the training. Prof (Dr) Mahipal Singh,
Dean of SOA distributed certificates to all participants.
The training was coordinated by
subject expert, Dr Sandeep Kumar, Assistant Professor, SOA and a total 25
agriculture students actively participated.
