ETHNOMYCOLOGICAL STUDIES OF SOME WILD EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS IN KAMRUP DISTRICT OF ASSAM, INDIA

Macrofungi constitute a group of the high value non Mushroom is a general term utilized mostly for the fruiting body of the macrofungi and mainly belongs to higher fungi. It represents only a short reproductive stage in the cycle. Macrofungi are significant as nourishment source for human beings and animals. A fraction of complete fungal wealth has been subjected to scientific scrutiny and mycologists continue to unveil the unexplored and hidden wealth. The indigenou mostly mycophilous and are frequently used to collect wild edible fungi (WEF) from the forests. In the district of Kamrup of Assam, India, the tribal people mostly use only 6 species of mushrooms as food and only 4 species of mushroom that were used as food included Agaricus bisporus, Cantharellus cibarius lateritius, Lentinus squarosulus, Termitomyces heimii and macrofungi which local people of Kamrup used in medici Ganoderma lucidum, Lentinula edodes and Bovista plumbea. hypogeous or an be seen with hang and Miles, that form large ngi, coral fungi, ’s nest fungi etc. Murray, 2002; s of macrofungi beautiful in its estrial species of erm used mainly Ascomycota and ort reproductive . The division lls, corals, teeth cludes cup fungi, collected and s. Of the 14,000 well studied to more than 3000 as prime experimentally ximately 60 commercially grown and about scale (Chang and Miles, 2004 reported to be available in In 1985). Ethnomycology is the s with their identification and d potential and indigenous kno medicine or in some other cultural roots to a landmark publi Russia and history” (Wasso traditional uses of macrofungi The species eaten in one coun nearby areas and in some case utilizati Several mycologists have reported ethnomycological usage of macrofungi from different parts of India like ethnomycological studies from Jammu and Kashmir (Kumar and Sarma, 2011); Himachal Pradesh (Chauhan, 2014); Uttar Pradesh (Vishwakarma et al Gujarat (Lahiri et al., 2010); West Bengal (Dutta and Acharya, 2014); Jharkhand (Srivastava and Soreng, 2014) and many more. In north eastern part o edible mushrooms is very com markets and hence is known to local people and forest dwell period when no other NWFP (Harsh and Bisht, 1982). Suc already reported from Assam Arunachal Pradesh (Sherpa, 2014); Meghalaya (Khaund (Tanti et al., 2011) and Sik 6505, Impact Factor: SJIF: 5.995


INTRODUCTION
Macrofungi are the higher fungi having epigeous distinctive fruiting bodies which c the unaided eye and be picked by hand (C 1992). Macrofungi are defined as fungi fructifications, such as gilled fungi, jelly fu stinkhorns, bracket fungi, puffballs and bird (Hawksworth et al., 1995;Richard's and Bates, 2006). There are thousands of specie where each and every species is unique and own way. The group includes mainly terr diverse forms and habitat and is a general t for the fruiting bodies of macrofungi ( Basidiomycota) and represents only a sh stage in their life cycle (Das, 2010) Basidiomycota includes mushrooms, puffba and bracket fungi while the Ascomycota in morels, etc.
Wild edible fungi (WEF) have been consumed by people for thousands of year mushroom species, nearly 7000 species are possess varying degree of edibility and species spread over in 31 genera are regarded edible. Thus far, only 200 of them are cultured, 100 economically cultivated, appro ng hypogeous or can be seen with Chang  commercially grown and about scale Miles, 2004 reported to be available in In 1985). Ethnomycology is the s with their identification and d potential and indigenous kno medicine or in some other cultural roots to a landmark publi Russia and history" (Wasso traditional uses of macrofungi The species eaten in one coun nearby areas and in some case utilizati Several mycologists have reported ethnomycological usage of macrofungi from different parts of India like ethnomycological studies from Jammu and Kashmir (Kumar and Sarma, 2011); Himachal Pradesh (Chauhan, 2014); Uttar Pradesh (Vishwakarma et al Gujarat (Lahiri et al., 2010); West Bengal (Dutta and Acharya, 2014); Jharkhand (Srivastava and Soreng, 2014) and many more. In north eastern part o edible mushrooms is very com markets and hence is known to local people and forest dwell period when no other NWFP (Harsh and Bisht, 1982). Suc already reported from Assam Arunachal Pradesh (Sherpa, 2014); Meghalaya (Khaund (Tanti et al., 2011) and Sik  (Kumar and Sarma, 2011); Himachal Pradesh (Chauhan, 2014); et al, 2016); Goa (Kamat, 2011); ., 2010); West Bengal (Dutta and Acharya, 2014); Jharkhand (Srivastava and Soreng, 2014) and many of India, consumption of wild mmon, also is sold in the local wn to provide sustenance to the llers especially during the lean Ps are available in the forests ch wild edible mushrooms are m (Gogoi and Sarma, 2012); 2016); Manipur (Devi et al., and Joshi, 2013); Nagaland kkim (Das, 2010).Though the

Research Article
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits ethnic knowledge and documentation on their nutritional value and market cost is completely lacking.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Macrofungi were collected from the different reserve forests of Kamrup district of Assam ( Figure 1) India between 2010-2012 particularly during autumn and spring. The details of the reserve forests are given in table. The morphological and ecological characteristics of the specimens were recorded and photographed in their natural habitats, and then, brought to the laboratory. The local consumption of macrofungi and their local names were recorded by interviewing local people. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the detail information about macrofungi and their traditional uses among local inhabitants of Kamrup district of Assam. A total of 150 respondents were selected randomly from 15 villages under 15 different Reserve forests of the study area.

RESULTS
Ten species of macrofungi were ethnomycologically utilized by the local people of the district. The species and local names are given along with their modes of utilization in Table  1. The species which were edible are Agaricus bisporus Cantharellus cibarius Cantharellus lateritius Lentinus squarusulus Termitomyces heimii and Termitomyces microcarpus and the species used in medicine are Auricularia judae, Bovista plumbea Ganoderma lucidum and Lentinula edodes. The photographs of these species are given in Figure  2. Three most commonly available macrofungi which were consumed the most in this region and were also sold in the local markets viz. Cantharellus cibarius, Cantharellus lateritius which are shown in Figure 3 and Lentinus squarusulus. Different tribal population thriving in the forest villages generally consume mushrooms as a very delicious food item the taste of which they compare with that of meat. People of all ages are interested in foraging for mushrooms growing in the wild. They generally collect the mushrooms early in the morning or sometimes in evening without the knowledge of the nutritional benefits of these WEF.

DISCUSSION
The present study demonstrated that many people of the Kamrup district of Assam collect and consume different types of wild mushrooms as food and also use them for treatment of some specific ailments. Macrofungi has been traditionally used by the people in many countries as food and medicine (Harsh and Bisht, 1982;Akapaje et al., 2003;Sanmee et al., 2003;Atri et al., 2010, etc). Such positive social disposition of locals towards mushrooms can be scientifically translated as mycophilia (Purkayastha and Chandra, 1985). Majority of the regional ethnic population have mycophilic inclination and during the monsoon season, mushrooms play a significant role in sustaining their livelihood (Dutta and Acharya, 2014).   Due to deforestation and urbanization, existence of different groups of the organisms including macrofungi are threatened and has resulted in the loss of traditional knowledge about their uses which is acquired over hundreds years of experience and understanding of environment. In this regard, ethnomycological survey was conducted in the selected reserve forests of Kamrup district of Assam through a semistructured questionnaire, which was randomly recruited. A total of 150 respondents were questioned regarding the utilization of macro fungi. This survey markedly established that respondents in the urbanized areas hardly possessed any information about the edibility and other uses of macrofungi. However, in the rural areas, people hold substantial knowhow about edibility, recipes and medicinal utility of macrofungi. Similar observations were also derived by Kumari et al. (2012) in north western India. Many species of macrofungi were regularly collected during the monsoon season for personal consumption. Altogether 10 species were found to be consumed or used by the tribal people of this region among which 6 mushroom species were edible and 4 were used for medicinal purposes.  (Kumari et al., 2012). The health benefits of wild mushrooms are tremendous. They improve the health of skin, boost energy levels, lower cholesterol and are packed with numerous vitamins and minerals. In Kamrup district, three wild mushroom species i.e. Auricularia judae, Ganoderma lucidum, Lentinula edodes and Bovista plumbea were recorded to be used in medicine. The WEF species Cantharellus lateritius, C. cibarius and Lentinus squarusulus were every so often seen beingsold in local markets to be used as food.Cantharellus lateritius, commonly known as the smooth chanterelle, is an edible fungus in the Cantharellaceae family of mushrooms and also an ectomycorrhizal species, found in Asia, Africa, and North America. Its fruit bodies are brightly colored yellow to orange, and usually highly conspicuous.
In this region, mushroom nomenclature is not well developed amongst any of the tribes as shown by the fact that many mushroom species including edible ones don"t have specific local name, but generally referred by a general term "Maikhun" by the Bodos and "Legumm" by the Karbis. Some mushrooms were named specifically like uri-maikhun for fungi growing on termite mound and dawdi-maikhun for Bovista sp. The consumption of WEF in many developed and developing countries have been marginal as compared to other food. They are untapped resources of nutrition and palatable food of the future. Due to high protein content they can be used to bridge the protein malnutrition gap. Edible mushrooms are sources of food and are cogitated as one of the delicious food all over the world. They have a high nutritional value almost twice that of any vegetable or fruit (Sivrikaya et al., 2002).

CONCLUSION
A total of 10 different ehnomycologically important wild macrofungi were recorded from this area, out of which used 5-6 different species of wild mushrooms were used as food and 4 were used in medicine. The Wild edible fungi used as food by the ethnic people of Kamrup district of Assam, India included Agaricus bisporus, Cantharellus cibarius, Cantharellus lateritius, Lentinus squarosulus, Termitomyces heimii and Termitomyces microcarpus. In medicine, Auricularia judae, Ganoderma lucidum, Lentinula edodes and Bovista plumbea were being used for cure of some ailments and to increase immunity. Three most commonly available macrofungi viz. Cantharellus cibarius, Cantharellus lateritius and Lentinus squarusulus were consumed the most in this region were also seen being sold in the local markets.