Diversity of Mushrooms in Chiang Mai University Campus, Thailand

Abstract

Mushrooms are eukaryotic organisms that are member of the kingdom Fungi and belong to phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. However, only about 10% of the world's mushrooms have been discovered. The purpose of this study was to investigate the diversity of mushrooms at Chiang Mai University area, Thailand in the year 2018. Based on macromorphology, 204 mushroom samples were classified into two phyla, four classes, 11 orders, 31 families, 53 genera and 162 species. The genus Agaricus was the most abundant genus (11.73 %) in this study area, followed by Leucocoprinus (7.41%), Polyporus (6.79%), and Marasmius (5.56%), respectively. Further, all mushrooms species were classified according to their ecological role in nature as saprophytic, ectomycorrhizal, and insect-associated mushrooms. Saprophytic mushrooms were found to be the most abundant mushrooms in the study (85.80%). The majority of mushrooms (72.84%) were discovered on soil, followed by decaying wood (24.07%), decaying leaves (1.85%), and living tree bark (1.23%). Morphological and phylogenetic analysis of ITS, nrLSU, and tef1 genes of four selected Agaricus species were determined. Three new species (Aagricus pseudoerectosquamosus, A. lannaensis and A. thailandensis) and one new record (A. erectosquamosus) were found in this study. Agaricus erectosquamosus, A. lannaensis and A. pseudoerectosquamosus were placed into the Agaricus subgenus Pseudochitonia. Agaricus thailandensis was a member of the Agaricus subgenus Minores. The optimal conditions of mycelium growth for A. lannaensis and A. pallidobrunneus were investigated. It was found that YMEA was a suitable culture media for optimal mycelial growth of both selected mushrooms. The optimal temperature for both Agaricus was 30°C. Moreover, the optimal pH value for A. lannaensis was observed at pH 7.0, while A. pallidobrunneus was found at pH 6.0.