Untitled

Abstract

The current study revealed diversity, distribution and utilization of wild edible mushrooms from forest regions of northern Odisha, India. A total of 20 wild edible mushroom species belonging under six orders and nine families. Among them the order Agaricales was dominant, harboring maximum number of species and the genus Russula exhibited maximum number of species. The optimum growth period of all studied mushrooms was found in the month of August. Maximum numbers of species were found in forest soil substratum and minimum in decayed paddy straw. Quantitative analysis of the collected wild edible mushrooms revealed that Russula delica were denser (5.73) and most frequent species (93.33%) while Termitomyces sp. was found to be most abundant species (35). The study revealed that species diversity varied amongst different forest sites. Among the different forest regions, Bhimkund forest showed highest species diversity with Shannon's and Simpson's indices of 1.88 and 0.83 respectively while Bangiriposi forest showed the lowest with Shannon's and Simpson's indices of 1.12 and 0.56. Evenness was also found to be highest in Bhimkund (0.94) and lowest in Bangiriposi (0.82). An assessment of economic value revealed that wild edible mushrooms were sold in rural markets at lower prices in comparison to urban markets. The market value of species belonging to genus Russula was cheaper in rural areas (10-30 rupees/kg) as compared to urban markets (60-90 rupees/kg) while that of Termitomyces species was found comparatively higher in both rural (30-120 rupees/kg) and urban markets (150-250 rupees/kg).