Oyster mushroom cultivation for quality protein and income enhancement

Abstract

Mushrooms, low volume, high value and purely vegetarian diet, is very tasty and nutritious. However, all the mushrooms occurring in nature are not edible, some are poisonous too. In India 6 genera of mushrooms are under commercial cultivation i.e. Button mushroom, Dhingri mushroom (Oyster), Paddy straw mushroom, Milky mushroom, Black ear mushroom, and Shiitake. Among these, cultivation of oyster is very easy and low cost and it can be cultivated even by semi-skilled person after small duration of training. Oyster mushroom consumption becomes an alternative source of protein which is blend of rich protein having 9 essential amino acids required for human growth. Production process of oyster mushroom is very simple and it can be cultivated in a small piece of land. It can be grown on number of agricultural and organic waste material e.g. straw of different cereals, sugarcane, cotton waste, jute, coir pith, groundnut pod shell, maize cob, banana pseudo-stem, straw of different oil seeds and pulses. Cost of production/kg oyster mushroom is about ` 35 and its market price ranges from ` 100-120/kg. Oyster mushroom can be utilized for the development of a variety of products like mushroom pakora, soup, namakpara, mushroom cutlet, curry, dry vegetables etc.