BANGALORE: After five years of intense research, city-based mushroom research laboratory at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) has been successful in coming out with pink oyster mushroom, found in the forests of Western Ghats. Speaking to Express, Dr Meera Pandey from the IIHR, who along with other three scientists had taken up the research said, “For the past five years, we were engaged in documentation and conservation of the indigenous mushroom germplasm of the tropical and sub-tropical regions of India. The laboratory had undertaken a series of explorations in the forest areas of Western Ghats, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Sikkim and documented more than 300 species of mushrooms.” “During this period of our exploration in the Shimoga forest region of Western Ghats, we had collected a pink oyster mushroom species. The germplasm was cultured, purified and we studied the samples for a period of five years for its cultural, agronomical and nutritional characterisation. It was released as IIHR variety Arka-OM-1 in 2011 recently. The seeds are now available to the farmers for cultivation,” she said. The availability of this variety of pink mushroom is still not reported in India. However, the pink mushrooms are available in a few Western countries like Europe, South America, Africa and also China, said Meera.On the speciality of the pink mushroom variety she said, “Besides the colour, it has a short cropping cycle of about 20-23 days. Unlike the white or the brown mushrooms, the pink variety was found to have a better shelf life.” She adds: “This variety escapes any contamination or pest problem due to short cropping period and has anti-oxidant properties.”
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