Abstract
Among wild edible species of mushrooms, morels rank first in choice and delicacy and have been the mushroom of choice since ancient times in India and elsewhere. Seven different Morchella species (M. angusticeps, M. conica, M. crassipes, M. deliciosa, M. esculenta, M. tibelica and M. simlensis) have been qualitatively and quantitatively screened for different extracellular enzymes. Yellow morels produced qualitatively higher concentration of cellulase, amylase, pectinase and urease in comparison to black morels. Similarly, quantitatively, yellow morels showed maximum activity of extracellular enzymes viz. cellulose, amylase and protease than black morels. The study confirms higher extracellular enzyme polymorphism at inter specific levels and could distinguish yellow and black morels from each other. The production of all these enzymes shows that Morchella spp. are capable of degrading and utilizing various substrates such as cellulose, starch, urea, pectins and proteins efficiently and this can help the mycologists to opt such substrates for the domestication of the morels.
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