Vol. 12, Special Issue 11 (2023)

Author(s):
KA Nakate, VS Patil and SD Ambhure

Abstract:
The present investigation entitled “Biodiversity of mushroom flora of Mahabaleshwar, Koyananagar and Gaganbawada forests of Maharashtra" was carried out at Plant Pathology Section, College of Agriculture, Kolhapur. This survey was carried out with the object to study biodiversity of mushrooms in forests of Mahabaleshwar, Koyananagar and Gaganbawada to identify mushroom species on the basis of morphological characteristics. Collection and Identification of mushroom specimens was conducted during monsoon season, 2019. The survey was conducted in the forest area of Gaganbawada, Koyananagar and Mahabaleshwar for the collection and Identification of mushroom species during July to October (2019). The collected species has showed different among their morphological characteristics i.e. pileus, stipe, lamellae and basal association, edibility and spore prints. Other characteristics include form of mushroom i.e. single, group or connate (united), smell of mushroom (pleasant or odd smell) and mushroom habitat i.e. on soil, grassland, dung, dead tree trunk or wooden stumps or on plant. The environmental factors like light, temperature, nutrients and relative humidity greatly influence the growth. In nature, mushrooms grow wild in almost all types of soils, on decaying organic matter, wooden stumps, etc. They appear in all seasons; however, rains favor rapid growth when organic matter or its decomposition products are easily available. The commonly found mushrooms at Gaganbawada, Koyananagar and Mahabaleshwar places are Marasmius spp., Lepiota spp., Pleurotus spp., Psythrella spp. and Termitomyces spp.