In a first, Gucchi mushroom artificially cultivated in DMR

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, February 25

The Indian Council of Agriculture Research-run Directorate of Mushroom Research (DMR), Solan, has for the first time successfully cultivated the world’s costliest Morchella mushroom, commonly known as gucchi.

The DMR had made several unsuccessful attempts to cultivate gucchi mushroom since its inception. Given its potential, Dr VP Sharma, Director, DMR, assigned the challenge to Dr Anil Kumar in 2019, who prepared a project “Standardisation of cultivation technique for Morchella mushroom”.

The fresh morel mushroom season is limited to barely a few weeks during the spring. It is collected from wild habitats in north-western Himalayas by locals and primarily exported to Europe and the USA.

It is sold for prices ranging from Rs 10,000 per kg to Rs 30,000 per kg. Owing to difficulties in its artificial cultivation, gucchi yields huge profits.

Anil Kumar said, “Five species were selected for the experiment and after much deliberation, the substrate preparation technique was standardised for its cultivation. Under continuous rigorous in vitro trials on the induction of fruit bodies in gucchi, three small ascomata of 0.5 to 1 cm were obtained. In the first seasonal cultivation trial started in October 2019, conidial stage and a mature ascomata of 13 cm length was recorded under greenhouse conditions on April 13, 2020”.

“I was treading in the positive direction and with continuous efforts, I again succeeded and induced 12 ascomata in the second research trial under greenhouse conditions on February 23,” he said.

Since the experiment is still in progress, he is hopeful that fruit bodies of gucchi would keep on appearing at his experimental site till April. The gucchi crop is in an advanced stage to produce fruit bodies.

“This is for the first time that the ICAR-DMR, Solan, has succeeded in producing fruit bodies of gucchi mushroom. As a result, India has entered the list of select countries such as the USA, China, France etc. that have successfully attempted to cultivate Gucchi mushroom under artificial conditions,” said Dr VP Sharma, Director, DMR.

“There is need to improvise our technology before it is transferred to farmers, hopefully in the next two to three years. It will revolutionise the Indian mushroom industry and help in the economic uplift of farmers,” added Sharma.

Valued for treatment of arthritis, anaemia

Globally acclaimed for its unique favour and aroma, Gucchi mushroom is a culinary delicacy and gastronomical delight. It is highly valued for the treatment of arthritis, anaemia, tumor etc.