Mushroom cultivation as a subsidiary occupation has great potential for sustaining rural livelihood. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Patiala has always remained a leader in extending agricultural technologies in general and mushroom cultivation in particular to enhance the economic status of rural youth. KVK, Patiala has organized seven vocational training programmes (5 days duration) on mushroom cultivation to 146 participants from 2005-06 to 2009-2010. With a view to assess the effectiveness of such training programmes the present study was conducted to assess impact of training programmes in terms of adoption and continuation of mushroom units, the knowledge gain of the participants and constraints of the mushroom growers. A maximum adoption of 40.91 per cent was observed in the year 2008-09. Continuation of mushroom units showed the decreasing trend. Initially adoption was higher in case of trainees with non-farming background as compared to trainees with farming background but continuation of mushroom production units was higher in case of trainees with farming background as compared to trainees with non-farming background. Among the various practices of mushroom cultivation maximum knowledge gain (52.2%) was observed in compost preparation. Aspect of disease and pest management was least understood by the participants (23.4%) followed by filling and spawning (37.3 %) so more emphasis should be given to these practices during training courses conducted by KVKs. As perceived by 55 mushroom growers major constraints faced by the mushroom growers were pertaining to higher cost of wheat straw, less remunerative enterprise, high incidence of nematodes, non-availability of good quality spawn, more labour intensive and lack of government policies.