Abstract

Nutritional Qualities and Host Specificity of Most Common Edible Macrofungi of Hamirpur District, Himachal Pradesh

Author(s): Jyoti Pathania* and Hem Chander

This paper analyses nutritional qualities and host specificity of most common edible macrofungi of Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh. During the ongoing studies on diversity of macrofungi, specimens of edible fungi were randomly collected from twelve localities (viz.Chheorin, Doh, Baru, Bohni, Saloni, Bhota, Tikkar-khattriyan, Kohin, Tikkar-sujanpur, Doli-sujanpur, Harson and Fafan) of Hamirpurregion and five species of most common edible macrofungi viz. Auricularia auricula-judae, Ganoderma applanatum, Ganoderma lucidum, Pleurotus ostreatus and Schizophyllum commune were identified. The chemical composition of these macrofungi include ash, protein, fats, carbohydrates, glucose, mannose, xylose, galactose, amino acids, fibre, phosphorus, magnesium, calci-um, iron, zinc, magnesium, copper and chromium. Among these macrofungi, Auricularia auricula-judaeis rich in carbohytdates (66.1%) and glucose (15%), Schizophyllum commune is rich in fats (4.5%), Ganoderma lucidumis rich in fibres (59%) and Pleurotus ostreatus is rich in protein (25.91%). These pathogenic macrofungi infect and grow over fifteen tree hosts viz. Acacia catechu, Bauhinia variegata, Bombax ceiba, Citrus pseudolimon, Dalbergia sissoo, Dendrocalamus sp., Ficus benghalensis, Grewia optiva, Magnifera indica, Melia azedarach, Morus alba, Pyrus pashia, Tamarindus indica, Toona ciliata andZizyphus jujube in the study area. Among these host trees, Bauhinia variegata is infected maximum by four species of macrofungi except forPleurotus ostreatus which is host specific and infects only Melia azedarach.

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