Tika R Pradhan

Kathmandu, July 9:

A mushroom breeder has developed a new edible species of mushroom from the seed of a wild mushroom, which he claims is tastier and grows faster than the existing edible varieties.

Om Krishna Shrestha, who has been involved in mushroom farming for the past 21 years and has been breeding different varieties of mushroom seeds for 13 years, developed the seed from a wild mushroom after a year-long research.

Shrestha, a resident of Kirtipur, after developing the species many times, sent it to Japan to find out whether the species was edible.

Nagasawa, a mushroom expert at the Mushroom Research Institute of Totari, Japan, identified the species as Pleurotus Salmon Ostraminues, which is edible.

Sakai, a Japn International Cooperation Agency volunteer who has been conducting researches on mushrooms in Nepal and helped Shrestha send the mushroom species to Japan for testing, said this is the first time a Nepali has developed a new mushroom species from a wild mushroom species.

According to Dr Buddhi Ratna Khadge, a plant pathologist at the Plant Pathology Division of the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), this could probably be the first Nepali Pleurotus Salmon Ostraminues species developed by a farmer.

Dr Khadge added that this is the first time that such an extensive research has been conducted by a Nepali farmer.

“We also have collections of many Nepali species, but they have not reached the stage of commercialisation,” he said and commended Shrestha’s efforts.

“He has been producing the new species and selling them in the market with his own efforts,” he said. Shrestha said some 422 tonnes of mushrooms of different varieties are produced every year in the Valley.

"The transaction from mushroom trade in the Valley amounts to Rs 40 million each year," Shrestha, who sold some 22 tonnes of mushroom last year, added.