Mushroom as medicine

Button mushrooms may have become as much of a staple as lauki and bhindi in the neighbourhood market, but the success story of the edible fungi doesn’t end there. The National Research Centre for Mushrooms at Solan, has made a major breakthrough by successfully growing a medicinal mushroom called the Reishi or Ling Zhi (Ganoderma lucidum), a Korean strain. The NRCM produced the highly prized Red Reishi and matured it to the desired levels completely indigenously and organically. The yield, too, was upto international standards. Only a few countries in the world possess the technology to produce Reishi, with China controlling 60 per cent of the world trade of 5,000 ton per annum.

One reason why the NRCM is so triumphant over its success is the high value pegged to the Reishi. In the international market, a ton of Red Reishi costs upto $1 billion; in the domestic market, it would sell for Rs 100 crore. Medicinal products derived from the Gandoderma lucidum are very popular in the American and European countries. Foreign companies have also started trading in the product in the Indian market.

With an eye on the export market as well as import substitution, the NRCM is checking out the technology as the pilot project. Concurrently, it is evaluating various local and exotic collections of mushrooms for yield and pharmacological properties.