Proximate Analysis, Mineral Contents, and Antioxidant Activities of Wild Edible Mushrooms from India

Eight common wild edible mushrooms from Champhai District located in the eastern part of Mizoram State, India, were selected for their proximate composition, mineral contents, and antioxidant activities using standard protocols. The nutritional values were evaluated on a dry weight basis, and the mushrooms showed high total protein (19.53 ± 0.20 - 64.01 ± 0.10 g/100 g) and total carbohydrate (6.17 ± 0.22 - 53.53 ± 0.15 g/100 g) contents, but low fat contents (2.24 ± 0.14 - 5.83 ± 0.15 g/100 g). The most abundant mineral in all the wild edible mushrooms was potassium, which ranges from 2411.59 ± 3.70 - 1033.29 ± 9.57 mg/100 g. In the principal component analysis between multivariate data information (nutrients and minerals), 95.8% of the variance was retained by the first four principal components. The first and second principal components were related to most of the nutrient and mineral contents. The methanolic extracts on selected mushrooms revealed that they all have good antioxidant capacity with DPPH (IC₅₀ = 31 ± 0.29 - 144 ± 0.25 µg/ml) and ABTS (IC₅₀ = 42.2 ± 0.36 - 86.55 ± 0.30 µg/ml). Strong DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity were observed in mushroom extracts containing more phenols than flavonoid, which suggested that phenolic compounds might be the main antioxidant components present in mushroom extracts, which contributed to their high antioxidant activity. The current study revealed that wild edible mushrooms could be a good source of nutritional and antioxidant components. The results of this study can therefore be used to promote local consumption of mushrooms as functional foods and for commercial purposes while also promoting their habitat preservation. It is worth noting that this was the first study on the proximate composition, mineral content, and antioxidant properties of Mizoram's wild edible mushrooms.