Bioprospecting of selected wild mushrooms from Jharkhand, India

Nine different varieties of mushrooms were collected from the various niches of Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. These mushrooms were identified on the basis of their macroscopic and microscopic studies. After identification, these mushrooms were found to be Agaricus bisporus, Agaricus campestris, Ganoderma lucidum, Pleurotus populinus, Pleurotus pulmonarius, Amanita pantherina, Astraeus hygrometricus, Russula emetica and Russula cyanoxantha. For all these 9 species of mushrooms bioprospecting with reference to nutritional, toxicological and medicinal aspects were carried out. At present, nutritional aspects are being reported. For nutritional aspects these mushrooms were analyzed for their different properties like carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins and mineral contents. In the present study, carbohydrate content was highest in R. emetica (34.34 g/100 g dw) and lowest in P. populinus (8.18 g/100 g dw). The protein content was found to be highest in G. lucidum (48.86 g/100 g) and lowest in Amanita pantherina (13.59 g/100 g dw). Fat content was detected to be highest in Astraeus hygrometricus (5.20 g/100 g dw) and lowest in P. populinus (0.113 g/100 g dw). Riboflavin content was highest in G. lucidum (18.37 g/100 g dw) and almost absent in R. cyanoxantha (0.018 g/100 g dw). Content of ascorbic acid was found to be highest in A. bisporus (27.15 g/100 g dw) and lowest in P. pulmonarius (13.38 g/100 g dw). Highest amount of Ca was detected in P. pulmonarius. Level of K, Mg and Na was seen to be highest in A. bisporus.