Importance Of Mushrooms

Fungi constitute a group of diverse eukaryotes which are only next to insects in terrestrial environments. About 1,28,432 species of fungi are known worldwide, while the existing global estimate of fungal species is 3 million, hence 95.72% remains yet to be described.
Mushrooms are distinctive spore producing fruiting bodies which can be either epigenous or hypogenous and large enough to be seen with the naked eye and to be picked by hand. Mushrooms are variously called macrofungi, macromycetes, fructifications, ascocarps, basidiocarps, sporocarps, sporophores, apothecia, morels, stromata, puffballs, conks, chiau (Nepali), chhatu (Bengali), oat, patra (Santali) etc. Most of them belong to Ascomycota or Basidiomycota, but a few are known from

Through the establishment of ectomycorrhizal associations with plant roots, they leach out vital mineral nutrients from the soil to plants and in return get nourishment from plants; mycoheterotrophic association is established between mushrooms and plants (e.g. Monotropa), which prefer obtaining food from the fungi over photosynthesis, however, in this type of association, the fungi is rarely benefitted; through saprotrophic and humicolous mode of nutrition, mushrooms serve as a dependable system for natural recycling of biodegradable substances; parasitic mushrooms are responsible for diseases of trees (Phellinus, Fomes), bamboos (Amylosporus, Laetiporus), insects (Cordyceps)

Their exotic taste blends well in the form of soup and curries. During their fruiting period, the people living within or in the periphery of forests find mushroom hunting as a good source of subsistence income. Mushrooms not only have splendid flavor, but they also endow us with nourishment. In addition to proteins, sugars, glycogen, lipid, vitamins, amino acids and crude fiber, they possess some mineral nutrients which are essential for normal functioning of the body. In recent years detailed scientific investigations has revealed that the mushroom neutraceuticals could be utilized in treatment of cancer, heart ailments, diabetes, inflammation, hepatic damage, ulcer, microbial pathogens etc.
India is a wealthy abode of fungi. An estimate of the number of fungal species present in India put forward its figure to be greater than 27,000, forming a prevalent biotic community. Indian mushrooms amount to more than 850 species and this figure gives a picture of no more than a quantum of fungal affluence, which has come under systematic examination and a great deal is yet to be