Biodiversity International Journal Review Article Open Access Insights of medicinal mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum): prospects and potential in India Abstract Volume 4 Issue 5 - 2020 Medicinal mushrooms have been used since olden days for the treatment of various diseases. Arvind Bijalwan,1 KalpanaBahuguna,1 Amol Ganoderma lucidum or Reishi is a medicinal mushroom of significant importance which Vasishth,1 Alankar Singh,1 Sumit Chaudhary,1 is gaining popularity due to the presence of numerous bio-active ingredients in it. Wild Anil Tyagi,2 MP Thakur,3 Tarun Kumar Thakur,4 collection of this mushroom along with its cultivation is done worldwide to meet its ever- 5 1 increasing demand in the market. Although, artificial or sawdust method of its cultivation Manmohan JR Dobriyal, Rajesh Kaushal, 2 2 on different woody substrates is commonly used but wood log cultivation method is also Arjun Singh, Nandini Maithani, Devendra in practice. The steps for its cultivation include spawn preparation, substrate preparation, Kumar,1 Gaurav Kothari,1 Pramod Kumar fruiting body management, harvesting and storage with their own set of requirements and Chourasia2 precautions for each step. Several healthcare, personal care, food and beverage products 1College of Forestry, VCSG Uttarakhand University of made of its extract are being marketed and consumed worldwide. In this review, a general Horticulture and Forestry, India understanding about the cultivation of medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum, current 2Center for Business and Entrepreneurial Development (CBED), market scenario and its potential in Indian markets are discussed. India 3Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwa vidyalaya, India 4 Keywords: medicinal mushroom, ganoderma lucidum, cultivation technique, spawn, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, India 5College of Horticulture & Forestry, RLB Central Agricultural marketing University, India Correspondence: Arvind Bijalwan, College of Forestry, VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Ranichauri-249199, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India, Tel +91 9412983808, Email Received: October 07, 2020 | Published: October 29, 2020 Introduction its fruiting body are consumed and sold in various forms as powder, capsule, tea, coffee etc. Currently this mushroom is being used in Medicines play an important role in treatment of various diseases. treatment of various diseases and disorders worldwide. Cultivation These medicines are consumed mostly in the form of drugs extracted of this mushroom is being done intensively in countries all around from plants or other herbal sources. Among the herbal medicines, the world especially South-east Asian countries for manufacturing medicinal mushrooms have been used for curing several diseases as well various health products which are being marketed and consumed as in maintaining good health from a long time. Ganoderma lucidum worldwide. India is one of the largest market which, in recent time is one of the most popular and important medicinal mushroom which is flooded with herbal products including Ganoderma products. With has been used for strengthening the body system since thousands of increasing awareness towards Ganoderma based products along with years. The name Ganoderma is derived from the Greek word- ganos easy accessibility of these products through online and multi level 1 “brightness, sheen”, hence “shining” and derma “skin”. It’s fruiting marketing, Ganoderma business is increasing continuously and body is called “Lingzhi”, Chi–zhi” or “Rui–zhi” in China, “Reishi”, creating tons of opportunities for the Ganoderma based businesses. “Munnertake” or “Sachitake” in Japan and “Youngzhi” in Korea.2,3 This mushroom is often called as “Mushroom of Immortality”, “Herb Morphology of spiritual potency” and “Celestial Herb” due to its various medicinal Fruiting bodies of G. lucidum collected from India are kidney- properties.4,5,6 shaped or irregular, mostly with thick margin along with long thick Ganoderma lucidum is known since around 2000 years and has corky, hard stipe of dark brown in color (fruiting bodies also found played a very significant role as a medicine in Chinese and Japanese without stipe, attached to the base of the tree with a dark thick pileus- culture.7 Lingzhi, as a medicinal mushroom with various medicinal G. applanatum). Basidiospores are double walled, ellipsoid with top properties was also recorded in the first Chinese Pharmacopeia cut flat/ovate with a rounded base and truncate to narrowly rounded written in Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1590).8 This mushroom has often been apex/globoid shape. Size of Basidiospores varies between 6.24 µm portrayed in ancient Chinese art and literature. There also have been -9.08µm ×9.11 µm -12 µm.11 Pileus of G. lucidum is kidney shaped, some assertions that the basic concept of ‘Lingzhi’ was originated elongated, red to reddish brown with or without bright yellow and white in India as an expression of “Soma”, a vedic plant “Soma-Haoma”.9 margins when mature. Its tubes are up to 2 cm deep with white pores The reports on Chinese edible and medicinal mushrooms accepted G. of 0.1 cm. and usually bruising brown in colour. The stipe is 3-12 cm. lucidum as the scientific binomial of “Lingzhi”. long with 1-2 cm. thickness, brown coloured spore prints and smooth, cylindrical dark red-black coloured crust.12 According to Bhosle et Ganoderma lucidum is a fungus which belongs to the family al.,13 basidiocarp of Ganoderma lucidum var. capense is 7–12×11– 10 Polyporaceae (or Ganodermaceae) of class Basidiomycetes . It grows 19×1.5 cm, woody to corky, sub sessile to laterally stipitate with 2–3 on dead wood and various parts of the fungus viz., mycelia, spores and Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Biodiversity Int J. 2020;4(5):202‒209. 202 ©2020 Bijalwan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Copyright: Insights of medicinal mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum): prospects and potential in India ©2020 Bijalwan et al. 203 cm long, reniform with laccate, dark red-purple upper surface which is yellowish, brittle and soft towards margin. Its basidiospores were yellowish brown and of 8.3–10×6.6µm. dimensions. Basidiocarp of G. lucidum var. lucidum, as described by Bhosle et al.,13 was laterally stipitate or eccentric, 12–14 × 8–9 × 1.6 cm., laccate, brittle, stipe reddish black, 7–10 cm long. Its upper surface was radially sulcate, semidull with dark reddish brown colour and yellowish to brown thin margin, basidiospore 7–8.5 × 5–6 µm. The Chinese G. lucidum has cream to buff colored context.14 Distribution and ecology Ganoderma species is distributed worldwide from tropical to subtropical regions due to its likeliness towards hot and humid climate. It is a facultative parasite which can also live as saprobe by feeding off and rotting stumps and roots of trees. It is a pathogenic, wood decaying fungus which causes the butt root, root and stem rot in perennial crops and economically important trees especially in tropical countries.15 The species of Ganoderma have a wide host range, with more than 44 species from 34 genera of plants being Figure 1 Naturally growing Ganoderma lucidum fruiting body on dead wood. identified as potential hosts.16 Ecologically, Ganoderma species play an important role in breaking down the woody plants for nutrient mobilization. It is effective in production of bioenergy and used in bioremediation as it contains the mechanism of lignocellulose decomposing enzyme.15–18 Ganoderma species is responsible for the loss of forestry yields by causing the root and stem rots in various tree species like, Areca catechu,19 Camilliasinensis, Cocosnucifera,20 Elaeisguineensis21 and Heveabrasiliensis22 worldwide. Chemical constituents and importance Ganoderma lucidum is an important medicinal mushroom due to presence of various bioactive chemical constituents which reflects different biological properties and are generally used as cure of various diseases, as health tonics, cosmetics etc. Various researches have proved the therapeutic properties of this mushroom. This mushroom contains about 90% water, rest 10% of dry matter is rich in protein (10-40%), fat (2-8%), carbohydrate (3-28%), fiber (3-32%) and ash (8-10%), Calcium, minerals, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper, Iron, Figure 2 Ganoderma lucidum fruiting body growing on dead and decaying Zinc, Magnesium and selenium on fresh weight basis.23 More than 400 wood. bioactive compounds like- polysaccharides, triterpenoid, nucleotides, steroids, fatty acids and other trace elements have been isolated and identified from its fruiting body, spores and mycelia. These ingredients have various pharmacological properties like anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-tumour, immunomodulation, sleep promotion, anti-ageing, anti- ulcer etc.24 Various studies have shown that the chloroform extracted from G.lucidum have the potential to delay the scavenging activities as well as the formation of free radicles. Photographs of medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum (Figures 1–8). The immunomodulatory properties of G.lucidum have the potential to enhance the immune system and to reduce the toxicity in the cancer patients going through the chemotherapy or the radiation treatments. Zhuang et al.,25 reported the similar activity of G. lucidum dietary supplement in the reduction of leucopenia, neutropenia with the improvement in NK-cells and lymphocyte count. The studies