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Popular and Eucalyptus saw dust enriched with nutrients and wheat bran were steam sterilized for 2 hours. Sterilized blocks were inoculated with pure culture of Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) After one month of incubation at room temperature 22-27oC 20 bags were observed to contain contamination and were discarded and 380 blocks were shifted for commercial trail at Village Dhangiara in District Mandi. Blocks started fruiting in late June- July 2013 and produced 132 Kg fresh Shiitake mushroom till Oct. 2013. Fruiting stopped under low winter temperature during winter and started fruiting again in late March 2014. This was the first ever large scale out of lab production trial of Shiitake mushroom production in Himachal Pradesh under natural conditions.
It was observed that cultivation of Shiitake under natural condition achieved 50% yield on fresh weight basis.
Next challenge was marketing of Shiitake mushroom. People were scared of fresh Shiitake mushroom and in local market no one was ready to consume this. Lot of awareness is required to make people consume this medicinal mushroom. There was no option except to dry the Shiitake mushroom for long term use.
Efforts were made to introduce Shiitake based dishes in Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation Hotels in Shimla and dried samples were supplied for trials.
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