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Diversity and Applications of Mushrooms

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Plant Biology and Biotechnology

Abstract

Mushrooms which are earliest known fleshy fungi are widely distributed in tropical temperate regions alike. They are attractive in colour, design and shape and intimately associated with human civilization. They are ubiquitous saprophytes as well as symbiotic in nature. Though many are edible and have medicinal properties, some are deadly poisonous and are called toadstools. Taxonomically they represent ascomycotina and basidiomycotina. They can be active and produce variety of metabolites exhibiting wide-spectrum biological activities including antimicrobial, haematological, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antitumour, etc., receiving increasing attention of pharmacologists and medical practitioners. Some mushrooms produce hallucinogens and are consumed on festive occasions. Mushrooms have received greater attention as food for healthy life. They being fibrous in nature, low lipid and sugar content mushrooms are a recommended food for diabetes and heart patients. In spite of all these good attributes, very few mushrooms have been studied and still many more await study. In spite of these facts, only about 20 mushrooms are being cultivated. Therefore, there is not only an urgent need for survey of these fungi in unexplored and non-accusable regions but also a need to develop methods for their cultivation in an economical way. Further efforts to increase shelf life and processing different edible mushrooms need to be taken up.

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Acknowledgement

Thanks are due to Head, Department of Botany and Microbiology for kind encouragements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Microbiology, Kakatiya University, Warangal, 506 009, Telangana, India

    S. M. Reddy

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  1. S. M. Reddy
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Correspondence to S. M. Reddy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sri Biotech Laboratories India Limited, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Bir Bahadur

  2. Department of Genetics, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

    Manchikatla Venkat Rajam

  3. Division of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    Leela Sahijram

  4. Center for Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy and Pharmacology, School of Life Sciences, Institute of Trans-Disciplinary Health Science and Technology (IHST), Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    K.V. Krishnamurthy

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Reddy, S.M. (2015). Diversity and Applications of Mushrooms. In: Bahadur, B., Venkat Rajam, M., Sahijram, L., Krishnamurthy, K. (eds) Plant Biology and Biotechnology. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2286-6_9

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