Economic importance of

fungi
Contents
• Introduction

• fungi as food and as fooder

• As a medicine

• Industrial uses
 Introduction
• Fungi include hundreds of fungi species which are
of tremendous economic importance to man.
• In fact our lives are intimately linked with
those of fungi.
• Hardly a day passes when we are not benefited or
harmed directly or indirectly by these organisms.
• They play an important role in
medicine yielding antibiotics in
agriculture, by maintaining the fertility of
the soil and causing crop and fruit
diseases, forming basis of many
industries and as important means of
food.
• Some of the fungi are important
research tools in the study of fundamental
biological processes.
 Role of fungi as food and as
fooder
• Many species of fungi are edible
about 2000 species of them have been
reported from all over the world.
• Of these about 200 are said to occur
in the western himalayas.
• Many edible fungi are of great
economic values as food.
• Agaricus and morchella, are eaten as
food and cultivated on a commercial
basis.
• They are rich source proteins.
• The honey coloured mushrooms,
the fairy ring mushrooms, the puff
balls (lycoperdon, and clavatia ),
morels (morchella, guchhi),and
truffles are edible.
• The content of available food in
them is not high but they supply
vitamins and are valuble as
appetisers.
• Yeasts and some filamentous fungi
are valuable sources of vitamins of
the B - complex.
Yeast cakes:
 The large scale
production of yeast
cake is called
microbial farming
.These are prepared
by mixing a large
number of yeast cells
with some inert
substances such as ,
starch and then
compressed to form
cakes .
Role of fungi in Medicine
• Some fungi produce substances which help to cure
diseases caused by the pathogenic microorganisms.
These substance are called the antibiotics.

• The most important antibiotics are produced by the

moulds, actinomycetes or bacterial.

• The use of antibiotics is not limited to disease treatment.

They discovery of antibiotic agents as drugs is
comparatively a recent history.
Use in medicine:
• Some metabolic
products of fungi used
in medicine are :
• 1. Ergot
• 2.Antibiotics
• 3. Vitamins
1. Ergot:
• It is a most useful
drug obtained from
sclerotia of Claviceps
purpurea . The
fungus is parasitic on
grasses , especially
rye .The disease is
called `ergot of rye`.
It is also used to
increase blood
pressure .
2.Antibiotics:
• An organic substance ,
produced by
microorganism , which
inhabit or reduce the
growth of certain
microorganism ,is
called antibiotic . Some
of the antibiotics
obtained from fungi is
penicillin , Clavicin .
• The Role of fungi in producting antibiotic
substance was first established by sir ALEXANDER
FLEMING in 1929.
• He extracted the great antibiotic drug penicillin
from penicillium notatum. It was the first
antibiotic to be widely used.
• Penicillin is an organic substance lethal to
microbes. It is for more effective than ordinary
drugs and germicides.
• It has no adverse effect on human protoplasm but
kills bacteria especially gram- positive type.
3. Vitamins:
• Fungi are rich source
of many vitamins.
Vitamin B complex is
obtained from yeasts
.Other vitamins
obtained from yeasts
and moulds are –
Vitamin D ,
Riboflavin, Ergosterol
etc.
Role of fungi in industry
• Fungi are used in industries for manufacturing large
varieties of used materials for mankind such as
Metabolites, enzymes and food.

• The Filamentous fungi are used in many different process

in food industry for manufacture of different metabolites
and variety of other processes.
 Industrial uses:
• Fungi are used in many important industries in the production of
varied products .
• 1: Alcoholic fermentation
• 2: Industrial products
• 3: Enzymes
• 4: Gibberellic acid
Alcoholic Fermetion
The common alcoholic beverages-wine and beer
are fermentation products produced by the
activity of different species of Saccharomyces.
some of fermentation products are :
1: wine : wine is made from juice of graps or
other fruits by allowing yeast to induce alcoholic
fermentation. It contain about 10 to 12% alcohol.
2:beer :beer is chiefly made from barley grains.It
contain 3 to 8% alcohole .
Enzymes:
Gibberellins
• These are plant hormones produced by the fungus
gibberella fujikuroi which causes a disease of rice
accompanied by abnormal elongation.

• Gibberellin is used to accelerate growth of several

horticultural crops.
 Gibberellic acid:
• The phytohormone
gibberellic acid is
obtained from the
culture of gibberella
fujukuroi and fusariun
moniliforme.It is used to
induce growth and
flowering in plants.
* Botany for degree students Fungi

by:Vasishtha B.R

Shinha A.K.

Singh V.P

*www.google.com
THANK YOU….