Horticulture dept produces oyster mushroom @Rs 13 for a bottle

Tribune News Service 

Jalandhar, November 27 

The Punjab Horticulture department has produced over 11,000 bottles of Oyster (Dhingri) mushroom seeds in the city. The bottle available at Rs 13 each is in high demand among the city residents who are making a beeline at the horticulture office at Jalandhar cantt to purchase it. 

According to Deputy Director , Satbir Singh, a bottle can easily produce around 1.25 kg of mushrooms for domestic consumption. “The Oyster mushroom has much higher nutrition value than the button mushrooms which is easily available in the market but due to lack of awareness about the high nutrient content of Oyster mushroom, people are hesitant to buy or grow it at home,” said Satbir. He further added that the horticulture office at Jalandhar has produced Dhingri seeds for the distribution in Amritsar, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, Gurdaspur, Moga, Faridkot, Tarn Taran and Jalandhar. 

 Horticulture development officer Lal bahadur said that the centre produces around 50 quintals of Dhingri seeds every year. While over 5 quintals of seeds will alone be distributed in Amritsar and Jalandhar, the department is also selling it to city residents through its retail outlet at Jalandhar cantt. This year, the centre has produced ‘Florida’, which is white in colour. 

The economic importance of the Dhingri mushroom lies primarily in its use as food for human consumption. It is rich in Vitamin C and B complex and the protein content varies between 1.6 to 2.5 percent. It has most of the mineral salts required by the human body. The niacin content is about ten times higher than any other vegetables. 

Also, mushroom is a rich source of folic acid which helps to cure anaemia. It is suitable for people with hyper-tension, obesity and diabetes due to its low sodium- potassium ratio, starch, fat and calorific value.