Published on November 2020 | Plant Pathology

AN INTRODUCTION ABOUT MILKY MUSHROOM : THEIR CULTIVATION AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Milky mushroom (Calocybe indica) has become the third commercially grown mushroom in India after button and Pleurotus mushrooms. This mushroom is fast reputation due to its attractive robust, white sporocarps, long shelf life, sustainable yield, delicious taste, unique texture and cholesterol free foods with certain important medicinal properties including their antiviral effect. Mushrooms are very good source of protein, vitamins and minerals with attracting flavours and are cholesterol free foods with several important medicinal properties together with antiviral effect. Milky mushroom is also an excellent source of thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, pyridoxine, biotin and ascorbic acid. The locally available substrates for its cultivation, the paddy straw substrates are very suitable for the milky mushroom cultivation. The higher yield of quality mushroom depends upon proper maintenance of pure culture as well as purity and quality of the spawn used. Hence, low cost and quality spawn is the basic requirements for mushroom growers. Several harmful fungi are encountered in compost and casing soil throughout the cultivation and many of these acts as competitor moulds thereby harmfully affecting spawn run whereas, others assail the fruiting bodies at various stages of crop growth producing dissimilar disease symptoms. Sometimes, there is complete crop failure depending upon the stage of infection, superiority of compost and environmental conditions. The methodical characterization of fungal communities in casing soil, a functional analysis is needed to highlight potentials and applications.