The mushroom is a fleshy spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus that belongs to class Basidiomycetes. It is heterotrophs and grows best on organic materials like logs, tree stumps, and various agrowastes.  The mushrooms have a stalk (called stem) and a cap (have disc-shaped). On the underside of the cap a series of closely spaced slits known as gills which can be occupied by the spores.

Stages of life cycle of Mushrooms:

1. Vegetative growth of mycelium in organic substrate 
2. Reproductive growth
3. Spore production by fruit bodies

The mycelium of the fungus is made up of hyphae (tiny web of threads). During the reproduction stage, the two hyphae of compatible mating types come together and fuse. And start to form spores. Those spores which are bigger than 1 mm are considered mushrooms. The spores released from the gills again will germinate and develop to form hyphae initiating the vegetative growth.

Importance of Mushroom:

Mushrooms are full of nutrition and reduce the problem of malnutrition as it contains proteins, vitamin D and minerals like potassium, iron, copper, zinc, manganese etc. Mushrooms are low in calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium and are gluten-free. Mushrooms impart the nutritious food and have made significant contribution to human food and medicine.

Mushroom cultivation at commercial level will generate income for poor and marginal farmers within a short span of time as mushroom cultivation does not require a huge scale of land for farming and less use of water resources. Considering nutritional and medicinal properties of mushroom may paid attention of both rural farmers and peri urban dwellers for trading the mushrooms at commercial scale.

Nutritional value of some commercial edible mushrooms (on dry wt. basis)

Nutritional parameters	Mushroom variety
	Agaricus bisporus	Pleurotus eous	Volvariella volvacea	Lentinula edodes
Protein (%)	29.14	19.59	38.10	18.85
Carbohydrates (%)	51.05	64.34	42.30	63.60
Fat (%)	1.56	1.05	0.97	1.22
Vitamin D(IU/g)	984	487	462.04	205
Sodium (mg/kg)	500.8	208.87	345.34	82.49
Potassium (%)	4.21	2.70	4.16	2.10
K: Na	84:1	129.1	120:1	255:1
Iron (mg/kg)	85.86	183.07	72.51	37.55
Manganese (mg/kg)	7.97	6.47	–	17.48
Zinc (mg/kg)	79.64	162.18	94.28	89.63

REFERENCES:

• Dr.V.P. Sharma (2019) Handbook of Horticulture (II edition), ICAR- DKMA Publishers, (Vol 1), Pp. 563
• Amazing Fungi in its Natural Habitat (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLQyuZxyKC0)
• Milky Mushroom cultivation in summer season (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7CZL_z3tGk)
• Reishi Mushroom Harvest and Processing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5RzRnsdJUM)