Abstract
Objective: The present investigation is an attempt to an ethnomycological mushroom survey carried out among the paliyar tribals of five settlements in Sirumalai hills. Daldinia concentrica, mushroom reported by the tribals for the wound healing activity was evaluated in vivo in rat model. Methods: The indigenous information of the tribal people was collected through personal interviews during field trips and also the ethno reported mushroom Daldinia concetrica was analysed for its phytochemical constituents by Harborne method and its potential wound healing activity in Albino Wistar rats by excision wound model.Results: The exploration revealed that 92% of the respondents consume mushroom as food and four mushrooms are used in ethnomedicine in the study area namely, Daldinia concentrica, Calvatia gigantean, Termitomyces microcarpus and Podaxis pistillaris. Daldinia concentrica for wound healing, is the first ethnomycological report, thus the further study on Daldinia revealed that the mushroom sample consists of alkaloid 0.97±0.07 mg/kg, flavanoid 2.97±0.12 mg/kg, phenol 0.32±0.01 mg/kg, tannin 0.17±0.02 mg/kg, terpenoid 0.07±0.01 mg/kg and saponin 0.09±0.02 mg/kg; and it’s in vivo wound healing activity was found to be outstanding around 75–87% compared to that of the commercial ointment neosporin.Conclusion: We believe that wound healing activity of Daldinia mushroom was due to the synergestic effect of phytochemicals present in them. Our results throw in the insight of the traditional use of mushrooms in various treatments.
Highlights
Worldwide 200 million tribal communities live in and depend on forests for their livelihood, food, medicine and shelter
The present exploration exposes that mushrooms are being used by the paliyar tribals to treat various diseases
Daldinia concentrica is being used for curing skin irritations and wound healing; Calvatia gigantean used for curing stomach upset and to cure stomach pains in woman during menstruation; Termitomyces microcarpus to treat male infertility and male visceral organ infections and Podaxis pistillaris to cure skin diseases and skin burns
Summary
Worldwide 200 million tribal communities live in and depend on forests for their livelihood, food, medicine and shelter. Tribal people are the repository of accumulated experience and knowledge of indigenous flora and fauna [1]. State of Tamilnadu houses more than 36 tribal communities who commonly referred as scheduled tribes, adivasis, indigenous people and aborigines [2]. Ethnomycology popularizes the diversity of useful mushroom species over the poisonous ones and provides insight into their culinary and medicinal use. These indigenous documentation laid foundation for many mushroom research, resulting in new exploration of valuable mushrooms and mushroom products [3]. Intrinsic and systematic studies are required for the exploration of valuable and valueless mushrooms, and advanced scientific insights are required to assess their usage and potentiality towards human behavior and many diseased conditions
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