ABSTRACT
Wild mushrooms have become an integral part of human diet owing to their pleasant organoleptic, nutraceutical and medicinal significance. Six wild mushrooms occurring in the foot-hills of the Western Ghats are endowed with phenolics, tannins, phytic acid, flavonoids, vitamins and pigments. They showed meagre trypsin inhibition activity and two mushrooms (Lentinus polychrous and Termitomyces schimperi) were devoid of haemagglutinin activity. The GC-MS analysis revealed terpenes, alcohols, fatty acids, amines, sterols and other components. The T. schimperi consist of a highest number of bioactive components (33) followed by A. hemibapha (31), Boletus edulis (30), Hygrocybe alwisii (25), L. polychrous (20) and L. squarrosulus (17). Many compounds in these mushrooms are valuable in cancer prevention, health-promotion, pharmacological significance (e.g. analgesic, sedatives, hallucinogen, antiangiogenic and antioxidant), food industry (emulsifiers, flavours, enzyme inhibition, fragrance, precursors and detoxicants), cosmetics (antiseptic, anti-microbial and anti-viral), other environmental and industrial applications (anti-fouling, nematicide, lubricant and perfumes). Many components of the wild mushrooms assessed are valuable in food industries, cosmetics production, environmental and industrial applications. Qualitative and quantitative profile of bioactive principles of wild mushrooms are dependent on the geographic location, forest type, soil condition, substrate availability and influence of wild fauna. There is immense scope to study the precise pharmaceutical compounds present in the ethnically-valued wild mushrooms and their retention, employing appropriate methods of processing.
