Jammu varsity prof honoured for contribution to mycology

Jammu, November 25

Prof Yash Pal Sharma, former head of the department of botany, University of Jammu (JU), has been conferred Dr SK Shome Memorial Award, 2018, for his scientific contribution to the field of mycology.

The award was presented to Prof Sharma on November 19 during the ‘International symposium on fungal biology: advances, applications and conservation’. The 45th annual meeting of the Mycological Society of India was also held the same day.

The meet was organised by the National Fungal Culture Collection of India, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune.

During the symposium, Prof Sharma delivered the Dr SK Shome Memorial Award Lecture on the ‘Ethnomycological-based mycochemical profiling of some wild edible mushrooms in J&K, India’.

The lecture was attended by more than 200 mycologists from across the country and abroad, including renowned mycologist Prof David L Hawksworth and Prof Petricia Witshire from the United Kingdom.

Prof Sharma and his team of researchers have been engaged in the exploration of wild mushrooms in J&K. The team has recorded 250 mushroom species so far, with emphasis on their ethnomycological information, including culinary traditions, descriptive vocabulary, folk taxonomy and comparative biochemical characterisation. — TNS