INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS - India Environment Portal

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Proc. 98th Indian Science Congress, Part II : Abstracts of Symposium/Invited Lecture
Keywords : Lentinus, nutrition, nutraceutical, mushrooms
Genus Lentinus is widely appreciated for its culinary and neutraceutical
attributes. Presently five wild species of this genus, namely Lentinus sajor-caju,
L. connatus, L. torulosus, L. cladopus and L. squarrosulus were selected for
evaluating the nutritional and nutraceutical components. These were collected from
different hosts in different seasons and from different altitudes ranging from 200 m
to 2,100 m in North West India. Among the nutritional components- total protein by
Kjeldhal method, crude fibers by digestion with acid and base, crude fat through
soxhlet apparatus and carbohydrates from the difference between total constituents
and minerals through atomic absorption spectrophotometer. As the protective role
of sugars for cell healing these have been characterized by HPLC. Investigations
were conducted on samples taken from dried fruit bodies. Out of all the samples
examined for nutritional components, maximum amount of protein (2. 450 %) was
recorded in L. torulosus and lowest contents were found in L. connatus (0. 525
%). L. sajor-caju and Lentinus cladopus showed highest percentage of crude fat
(0. 80 %) while other three contain considerably low percentage of crude fat. Total
crude fibres were found in high quantity in L. sajor-caju (3. 99 %) and minimum
percentage was observed in L. squarrosulus (1. 83 %). Ash contents were found
maximum in L. squarrosulus (2. 21 %) and minimum were observed in L.
torulosus (1. 52 %). The carbohydrate percentage was found to be maximum in
L. cladopus (89. 10 %) and minimum in L. sajor-caju (85. 82 %) the other three
species contain good amount of carbohydrates. Although the samples were dried
at 45 ºC, the samples still contained moisture. The rest of the part is constituted by
moisture. Minerals were estimated in mg/100 gm of the dried sample. Out of all the
samples examined, maximum amount of Ca (221. 3 mg) was recorded in L.
connatus followed by L. sajor-caju (97. 3 mg). The other species contained very
low Ca. Mg recorded maximum levels in L. connatus (1,722 mg) followed by L.
cladopus (1,260 mg). The other three species also possesses significant levels of
this mineral with L. torulosus having minimum quantity (807 mg). Maximum
amount of copper (3. 33 mg) was recorded in L. cladopus followed by 2. 33 mg
in L. torulosus where as minimum quantity of this mineral (0. 75 mg) was recorded
in L. squarrosulus. Zn was maximum (6. 10 mg) in L. squarrosulus followed by
4. 0 mg in both L. cladopus and L. sajor-caju whereas minimum quantity (3. 0
mg) of Zn was recorded in L. connatus. Maximum amount of Fe (37. 0 mg) was
recorded in L. cladopus followed by 18. 66 mg in L. connatus whereas minimum