Mushroom Society of India (MSI) is located in DMR, Chambaghat, Solan (HP), India. It was established in August 1990, registered in 1991 (under society registration Act 1860 vide No.60/91 dated 21.05.1991 at Solan, Himachal Pradesh) with only 10 founder members and the first issue of Mushroom Research was published in 1992. Since then the society is publishing the journal biannually. Dr. K.L. Chadha was the guiding force at the apex for establishing and strengthening the mushroom research infrastructure in the country and was the founder President of MSI. Dr. B.L. Dhar was the Founder Secretary of MSI and played important role in extending the membership of the MSI in India and abroad.
The society has been led by eminent scientists in the field of mushroom research since then. The following spearheaded the society and took it to greater heights by their selfless service for promotion of mushroom research and dissemination of knowledge through conferences, brain storming sessions, meeting etc.
Year | President | Vice President | Secretary | Joint Sec | Treasurer |
8.4.1991-10.3.1999 | Dr KL Chadha | Dr SR Sharma, Mr Jagdev Singh | Dr BL Dhar | Dr Kiran Thakur | Dr B Vijay |
11.3.1999-22.2.2001 | Dr RN Verma | Dr RP Tewari | Dr BL Dhar | Dr SK Singh | Dr B Vijay |
23.2.2001-12.8.2004 | Dr RN Verma | Dr B Vijay | Dr RC Upadhyay | Dr SK Singh | Dr MC Yadav |
13.8.2004-31.3. 2009 | Dr RP Tewari | Dr RD Rai | Dr RC Upadhyay | Dr Satish Kumar | Dr MC Yadav |
1.4.2009-31.5.2011 | Dr RP Singh | Dr RC Upadhyay | Dr Satish Kumar | – | Dr MP Sagar |
1.6.2011-30.4.2016 | Dr Manjit Singh | Dr RC Upadhyay | Dr B Vijay | Dr Shwet Kamal | Mr Y Gautam/Dr K Manikandan |
1.5.2016-31.8.2019 | Dr VP Sharma | Dr Satish Kumar | Dr Shwet Kamal | Dr M Shirur | Dr Y Gautam |
1.9.2019-24.2.2022 | Dr VP Sharma | Dr Satish Kumar | Dr Shwet Kamal | Dr Anil Kumar Rao | Dr Satish Kumar |
25.2.2022- | Dr Manjit Singh | Dr NS Atri | Dr Anil Kumar Rao | Dr GT Mala | Dr Anuradha Srivastava |
Dr. RD Rai was the first Editor-in-Chief and served up to 2004. Dr. SK Singh was Editor-in-Chief from 2004-2009, Dr MC Yadav from 2009-2011, Dr Manjit Singh from 2011-2015 and Dr VP Sharma from 2015 till date.
The first conference was organised in 1994 at NCMRT Solan by Dr. BL Dhar. He also organised second Indian Mushroom Conference in the year 1997 that was well attended by the delegates from all over India and abroad. Since then the society has been organising national conferences and brain storming sessions/interactions from time to time. Society organized International Conference on Mushroom Biology and Mushroom Products in 2014 in collaboration with WSMBMP. Conferences held till date are as below. Proceedings of these conferences can be downloaded from publication menu (pull down menu – free downloads).
Year |
Conference date & location |
Conference theme |
Chairman |
Organizing Secretary |
1994 |
8-10 April 1994 |
National Symposium on Mushrooms- 1st Indian Mushroom Conference-1994 |
Dr KL Chadha |
Dr BL Dhar |
1997 |
Sept 10-12, 1997 |
Advances in mushroom Biology and Production-2nd Indian Mushroom Conference-1997 |
Dr KL Chadha |
Dr BL Dhar |
2002 |
6-7 March 2002 |
Current Vistas in Mushroom Biology and Production- 3rd Indian Mushroom Conference |
Dr S Kanniyan |
Dr RC Upadhyay |
2007 |
10-11 Feb 2007 |
International Conference in Mushroom Biology and Biotechnology |
Dr RP Tiwari |
Dr RD Rai |
2010 |
1st June 2010 |
Brain storming session on ’50 years of Mushroom Research’ |
Manjit Singh |
Dr Satish Kumar |
2013 |
16-17 April 2013 |
Indian Mushroom Conference-2013 |
Dr PK Khanna |
Dr B Vijay |
2014 |
19-22 Nov. 2014 |
8th International Conference on Mushroom Biology and Mushroom Products |
Dr Manjit Singh |
Dr RC Upadhyay |
2017 |
27-28 April 2017 |
National symposium on Mushrooms- Trends and innovations in Mushroom Science |
Dr VP Sharma |
Dr Satish Kumar |
2021 |
15-17 April 2021 |
National Mushroom Web conference on: Mushroom Biology- Challenges and opportunities |
Dr VP Sharma |
Dr Shwet Kamal |
2022 |
25 April 2022 |
Brainstorming session on “Necessity for judicious use of pesticides” |
Dr VP Sharma |
Dr Anil Rao |
Society has been regularly organizing Yadavindra Young Scientist award competition during these conferences/symposia. The following were awarded:
Year |
Topic |
Name |
1994 |
Potential of Pleurotus sajor-caju for biocontrol of Aphelencoides composticola during Agaricus bisporus cultivation |
Dr VP Sharma, YSP UHF Nauni |
1997 |
Biology and management of false truffle (Diehliomyces microsporus) during cultivation of Agaricus spp. |
Dr VP Sharma, YSP UHF Nauni |
2002 |
Molecular breeding for development of genetically improved strains and hybrids of Agaricus bisporus |
Dr MC Yadav, NRCM Solan |
2007 |
Breaking the barriers of conventional mushroom breeding protoplast fusion can bring revolution in the MushWorld |
Ms Uttra Bhattacharyya, Bose Institute, Kolkata |
2013 |
Zero Energy poly tunnel: Rapid compositing method for Agaricus bisporus cultivation |
Dr Goraksha C. Wackchaure, ICAR-DMR Solan |
Studies on genetic biodiversity and lentinan among Lentinula edodes strains |
Dr Shivani Sharma, PAU Ludhiana |
|
2017 |
Study of mycelial growth rate and extra cellular enzyme activities as a combined tool to select the shiitake strains for cultivation on wheat straw |
Dr Sudheer Annepu, ICAR-DMR Solan |
2021 |
Development and characterization of sporeless strain in Pleurotus ostreatus |
Dr Anupam Barh, ICAR-DMR Solan |