1.

4 A BRIEF HISTORY OF MUSHROOM CULTIVATION IN INDIA

First in 1886 some specimens of Mushrooms are grown by N.W. Newton and which was
exhibited at the Annual Show of Agriculture in Horticulture Society of India. After that
in 1896 Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy in Calcutta Medical College tested some local
mushrooms prevalent in caves or mines. And sooner and later in 1908 Sir David Pain
started a thorough research about the Edible Mushroom. In 1921 Dr. Jagadish Chandra
Bose was successful in culturing 2 Agaricus in his laboratory inside a sterilized horse ding
medium and written a research paper which was published in Indian Science Congress
Nagpur. In 1939 Department of Agriculture in Madras attempted for cultivation of
Volvariella (Paddy Straw mushroom) which was successful in 1943. In 1961 the First
serious attempt of cultivation of Agaricus bisporus was done under a scheme named
“Development of Mushroom Cultivation in Himachal Pradesh” was carried out at Solan
by the H.P. Government and later on in Collaboration with ICAR. In 1962 Bano and
Srivastava reported the Cultivation of Pleurotus on Straw-based substrate and which
paved the future of commercial cultivation of Oyster mushroom. Sooner in 1964
cultivation of Agaricus bisporus started in experimental basis in CSIR and Govt. of J&K in
Srinagar. In 1977 Mushroom Development Project was launched under U.N.D.P. by
Department of Horticulture of Himachal Pradesh and in 1982 ICAR sanctioned the
creation of National Centre for Mushroom Research (NCMRT) during its 6th Plan with
objectives of research on mushroom cultivation as well as preservation and utilization
and for training the scientists, teachers, students, extension workers and growers. All
India Coordinated Project on Mushroom (AICRPM) was initiated on 1st April 1983 with
its headquarters in NCMRT.This institute presently known as Directorate of Mushroom
and presently there are 10 co-ordinating and one co-operating centres working under
AICPRM.