ICAR–Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan has research, production, extension and information-management facilities supporting mushroom research, technology development, training and dissemination.
The Centre's work spans crop improvement, crop production, crop protection, crop nutrition, utilization and post-harvest technology, and extension. Its infrastructure includes specialised laboratories, climate-controlled cropping rooms, a gene bank, spawn production facilities and training infrastructure.
Specialised laboratories support research across the major scientific disciplines of mushroom science.
Climate-controlled cropping rooms and compost pasteurisation facilities are available for conducting mushroom cultivation trials and developing production technologies.
The Centre also has a modern mushroom production facility with growing rooms and a composting unit comprising bunkers and bulk chambers.
The gene bank maintains mushroom cultures using facilities that include cryopreservation, freeze-drying and safe-deposit storage.
Culture resources include cultivated mushrooms such as Agaricus, Pleurotus, Lentinula, Volvariella, Calocybe, Ganoderma and Auricularia.
The facility produces mother spawn and planting spawn of popular cultivated mushrooms. Practical training in mushroom spawn production is also provided to growers and entrepreneurs.
A well-furnished library supports learning, research and access to mushroom science publications and reference material.
The AKMU supports institutional information and communication technology, including wired LAN, campus-wide Wi-Fi and high-speed broadband through the National Knowledge Network (NKN).
Campus-wide Wi-Fi and network connectivity are available to support staff, visitors and institutional activities, alongside the high-speed NKN broadband connection.
Computing and presentation equipment supports scientific meetings, training programmes, demonstrations and extension activities. Available equipment includes projectors and other audio-visual aids.
The Transfer of Technology infrastructure supports training programmes, demonstrations, farmer interaction, exhibitions and mushroom-related outreach activities. The Centre also has a museum facility.
Laboratories are equipped with instruments and equipment used for analytical, molecular, microscopy and post-harvest studies, including:
