A snowball sampling technique was applied to draw the sample for the study. The study was conducted in the Samastipur district of Bihar state. A sample size comprised of 60 (sixty) respondents i.e., 15 respondents from each 4 selected villages. A respondent was elected by snowball technique. A questionnaire was designed to test the knowledge and adoption level.

To assess the level of knowledge on mushroom cultivation, a knowledge test was specially developed for the purpose, which constituted of 56 questions with correct answers getting a score of 2 and incorrect answer getting a score of 1; the knowledge was administrated to the samples of respondents, the data thus got were analyzed, and the results are presented in Table 1.

To arrive at the level of knowledge scores, the scores obtained on all the 56 questions were added, and the percentage was calculated using the following formula:  Knowledge index = Obtained knowledge score  Highest obtainable score ×100

The knowledge score of all the 60 respondents was put in a frequency table, and their mean and S.D were computed. The score thus obtained were calculated by applying the mean ± SD procedure to obtain low, medium, and high categories of the knowledge level of the respondents as given below:

The attitude scale used in the study was based on the five-point rating scale. The score has been assigned as 1,2,3,4 and 5 for strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree response choices, respectively, for positive statements, and these were in reverse order for negative statements. To arrive at the composite attitude score, the score obtained by each respondent for every item was summed up. The final value thus computed was reckoned to be the attitude index of the individual respondent. Based on their attitude score, the respondents were classified into three groups, namely, least favorable, favorable, and most favorable, as mentioned below.

Training has specific goals of improving one’s capability, capacity, and performance. Trainers need to have a solid knowledge of mushroom cultivation to train others. Trainers must be capable of teaching about the mushroom, their health properties and benefits, their cultivation, processing, and how to run a mushroom production farm. More specifically, trainers need to learn about the various tasks involved in the whole process of mushroom cultivation, the various type of cultivation according to the various types of mushrooms, and the processing and transformation of cultivated mushrooms.

It is clear from Table 3 that a cent percent of respondents had received training from various sources in their business before starting mushroom cultivation. The analysis of data revealed that the majority of the mushroom growers (56.66%) got training from DRPCAU, Pusa. It may be due to the fact that from DRPCAU, Pusa has a well-established training center and its nearness to the respondent’s place. Maximum respondents (63.33%) got training on the production of mushrooms, followed by a complete mushroom production training program on mushroom cultivation (35%). Data of Table 3 highlights that 35 percent of respondents got training for 1 to 3 days. It was observed from the data of Table 3 a majority of the respondents (58.34%) got training in the year 2015-2018.

The level of knowledge was measured using a knowledge test consisting of 56 questions. An attempt was made here to compute frequencies of correct answers. The results are given in Table 4.

It is clear from Table 5 that 75 percent of respondents possessed, medium level of knowledge which was followed by a high level of knowledge (13.33 percent), and only 11.67 percent of women had a low level of knowledge.

The attitude of women mushroom growers in selected villages is computed for all the sub-component of mushroom cultivation and has been presented in Table 3.

To assess the impact of mushroom cultivation on the sustainability of women mushroom growers’ attitude about mushroom cultivation of the respondents was studied. Based on calculated of statements given by the respondents was classified into three categories i.e., Least favorable (up to 15), favorable (16-19), and most favorable (Above 19) level of attitude, which is presented here in Table 3.

It is evident from Table 6 that out of sixty respondents’ maximum respondents (73.33%) had favorable attitude scores ranging from 16-19, which indicated that they possessed a favorable attitude towards mushroom cultivation. A similar finding was reported by Jahan et al. (2010), who also found that majority of respondents had a favorable attitude towards mushroom cultivation.

The present research work has shown that women play a significant role in mushroom cultivation and can use their leisure for profitable ventures. After training, 75 percent of women have shown a medium level of knowledge regarding mushroom cultivation, while 73.33 percent of women have shown a favorable attitude for mushroom farming and count it as a sustainable method of employment and income generation. This level of knowledge and attitude might be due to the extensive training and workshops conducted by the training centers. The research work has also revealed that the women mushroom cultivators are facing the problem of storage, proper harvesting techniques, declination in nutritional value, and lack of agencies for marketing of their products. Hence, these problems open the scope for future research work in mushroom cultivation, making a venture of less capital investment and high-income generation.