Diversity and Micromorphological Invariables of Chaga Medicinal Mushroom (Inonotus obliquus f. sterilis, Agaricomycetes) Raw Materials.

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Citation abstract

Inonotus obliquus f. sterilis, chaga mushroom, is a complex formation with significant participation of woody material, which combines the characteristics of a granular core and pseudosclerotium plate. The aim of this work is a morphometric analysis of various parts of chaga raw materials with an assessment of the possibilities of its primary sorting depending on the purposes of further use. Five non-homogenized samples of chaga raw materials collected in the Pskov Region, Russia and one homogenized sample (in powder form) from the Republic of Serbia were analyzed. Macroscopic analysis showed clearly differentiation of the dark-colored and anthracite-dense, brittle cortex and softer brown-reddish medullary zones, as well as white granular mycelial pulp penetrating the medullary zone at the base of the conch and coloring it around in yellow or golden color. Micromorphological analysis of fungal material confirmed the differentiation of chaga raw materials and helped to find taxonomically valuable microstructures, such as brown-colored hyphal clusters from the cortex zone and storage hyphae from the medullary zone. For raw materials from the cortex zone, these are brown-colored hyphal clusters. The raw materials of the medullary zone are characterized by a free arrangement of hyphae in the presence of storage hyphae. The morphological term plerosetae for monomitic setae with a wall that strongly swells in water was introduced, as well. The mycelial pulp was characterized by dense mycelium textura intricata with a small number of plerosetae. The significance of the revealed characteristics for the sorting of chaga raw materials for further use was shown. For preventive usage of water extract of the mushroom preliminary sorting is not necessary. Meanwhile for pharmaceutical production using mainly alcohol extraction and subsequent purification protocols sorting before drying of raw materials to separate the medullary tissue from the crust and mycelial pulp is required.