A checklist of wild mushroom diversity in Mizoram, India

Abstract

The northeastern part of India is one of the biodiversity hotspots having a wide variety of flora and fauna. High humidity during monsoon provides ideal conditions for the growth of diverse group of macrofungi. Mizoram is one of the northeastern states of India which has a large number of edible and non-edible mushroom species. Wild edible mushrooms are an important food source for rural communities of Mizoram and provide additional income to the households if sold in regional markets. The key objective of this study was to explore the macrofungal diversity, and its richness in Mizoram with the aim of preparing a checklist along with the present geographical distribution of the important wild edible mushrooms. The macrofungal survey was undertaken during 2017–2020 in 24 different sites in Mizoram. A total of 152 (54 edible and 98 inedible) mushroom species have been documented belonging to 85 genera, 54 families, and 19 orders. Habitat-wise distribution of macrofungi revealed that maximum species were found on soil (61), followed by associated with roots (36), dead wood (30), living trees (22), and associated with termite mound (three). From a morphological point of view, the wild mushrooms have been divided into gilled fungi (95), boletes (18), polypores (17), coral fungi (10), chanterelles (3), puffballs (3), jelly fungi (3), stinkhorns (2), and cup fungi (1). This documentation of wild mushrooms of Mizoram will be a reference database for future.