Antimicrobial potential of some wild Macromycetes collected from Kashmir Himalayas

Alarming increase in microbial resistance to existing synthetic commercial antibiotics forced scientists to search for new antimicrobials from various alternative sources. The present study carried out during the year 2014-2015, presents the antimicrobial potential of some mushroom extracts against some commonly found pathogenic bacterial and fungal microbes. During the study four mushroom species, viz. Lentinus tigrinus (Bull.) Fr., Fomitopsis pinicola (Sw.) P.Karst, Inonotus hispidus (Bull.) P.Karst and Ramaria formosa (Pers.) Quel. were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against both gram positive (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus), gram negative (Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and fungi (Saccharomyces cerevisiae Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans, Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus fumigates). The results revealed that ethyl acetate and methanolic extract of all the mushroom extracts showed significant antimicrobial activity against most of the bacterial and fungal microbes. However, the aqueous extract of these mushrooms was found either lacking or conferring insignificant antimicrobial activity. The ethyl acetate extracts of Ramaria formosa and Lentinus tigrinus produced more promising results against the bacterial microbes than fungal counterparts. Both ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts of Fomitopsis pinicola and Inonotus hispidus exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against the selected set of microbes. The antibacterial and antifungal activity exhibited by Fomitopsis pinicola at the concentration 150mg/ml was almost parallel to 10µg gentamycin and 50µg nystatin respectively. Therefore, Fomitopsis pinicola signifies as one of the promising mushroom species possessing strong antimicrobial activity against broad spectrum of microbes

Diversity of macrofungal genus Russula and Amanita in Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, Southern Kashmir Himalayas

Pala SA, Wani AH, Mir RA. 2012. Diversity of macrofungal genus Russula and Amanita in Hirpora Wild Life Sancturary. Biodiversitas 13: 65-71. The Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary that extends over an area of 114 km2 lies in the Pir Panjal range at a distance of 70 km in south-west of summer capital Srinagar. It is rich in biodiversity including macrofungal diversity. The Sanctuary has been subjected to high ecological and anthropogenic disturbance due to the construction of Mughal road which is major threat for its biodiversity. Since there is hardly any report of documentation of macrofungi from this sanctuary. In this back drop a survey was carried out during the year 2010 and 2011 to explore and invetorise macrofungal diversity of the sanctuary. During the survey a no of macrofungi were documented, among which Amanita and Russula were dominant genus represented by 7 species each. All the 14 species viz. Amanita ceciliae (Berk. & Broome) Bas. Amanita flavoconia G.F. Atk., Amanita muscaria var. formosa Pers., Amanita pantherina (Fr.) Krombh., Amanita phalloides (Fr.) Link., Amanita vaginata (Bull. ex Fr.) Vitt., Amanita virosa (Fr.) Bertillon, Russula aeruginea Fr., Russula atropurpurea (Krombh.) Britz., Russula aurea Pers., Russula cyanoxantha (Schaeff.) Fr., Russula delica Fr. Russula emetica (Schaeff. ex Fr.) Gray. and Russula nobilis Velen. are ectomycorrhizal in nature and among them Russula aeruginea Fr. is reported first time from the Kashmir

Six hitherto unreported Basidiomycetic macrofungi from Kashmir Himalayas

Pala SA, Wani AH, Bhat MY. 2011. Six hitherto unreported Basidiomycetic macrofungi from Kashmir Himalayas. Nusantara Bioscience 3: 92-97. The Kashmir valley located in the north extreme of the India lies between 33020’ and 34054’ N latitude and 730 55’ and 75035’ E longitude. The forests constituting more than 20% of the geographical area harbors diverse macrofungal species due to their wide variability in climate altitude and nature of species constituting them. The mushroom flora of the Kashmir Valley has not been documented completely until now. In this backdrop, a systematic survey for exploration and inventorization of macrofungal species of Western Kashmir Himalaya was undertaken during the year 2009-2010. During the study six species viz. Agrocybe molesta, Coprinus plicatilis, Inonotus hispidus, Paxillus involutus, Psathyrella candolleana and Russula fragilis were identified first time from the Kashmir

Mushroom refinement endeavor auspicate non green revolution in the offing

Pala SA, Wani AH, Boda RH, Wani BA. 2014. Mushroom refinement endeavor auspicate non green revolution in the offing. Nusantara Bioscience 6: 173-185. Mushroom can serve as food, tonic, and as medicine thus make people healthier, fitter and happier. They have a cracking potential for generating great socioeconomic impact in human welfare at local, national and international level. With the help of allied mushroom farming we can easily tackle the problem of food for growing world population; reduce environmental pollution by bioconversion of huge organic wastes into mushrooms; recycle huge quantity of organic wastes to mushroom crops, biofertilizers, and biogas; restore damaged environment by mushroom mycelia through mycoforestry, mycoremediation, mycofiltration and mycopesticides in a zero emission fashion. They can be used to degrade radioactive industrial biocide wastes in an eco-friendly fashion. Since mushroom cultivation is an indoor agribusiness, it could have great economic impact by generating employment, income and functional food requirements for rural people especially in developing countries. How far mushroom cultivation can meet the functional food requirements; address the domestic food challenges, rising food prices and crisis vis a vis environmental sustainability will be thrust areas of this communication