Antioxidant and electrochemical properties of cultivated Pleurotus spp. and their sporeless/low sporing mutants.

Methanolic extracts of four cultivated edible mushrooms of Pleurotus spp. namely Pleurotus florida, Pleurotus sajor-caju, Pleurotus cystidiosus and Pleurotus djamor along with the sporeless/low sporing mutants of Pleurotus florida, and Pleurotus sajor-caju were analyzed for their antioxidant activity using different chemical assays. The electrochemical behaviors of these extracts were also analyzed using cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Results showed that scavenging effects on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radicals were good (73.3-42.4 %) at 1.5 mg/ml. At 12 mg/ml, the reducing powers (2.54-1.71) and chelating effects on ferrous ions (56.0-78.5 %) were excellent. H2O2 scavenging abilities at 1.5 mg/ml showed a wide range (20.0-85.4 %). Scavenging of superoxide radicals were excellent and were found to be in the range of 61.1-90.0 % at 16 mg/ml concentration. FRAP results were in the range of 1.20 - 0.98 at 16 mg/ml. Total phenolic and total flavonoid contents of the methanolic extracts ranged from 22.67 to 36.03 mg/g and 1.19-2.94 μg/g respectively. The study assessed the amount of variation in antioxidant activities exhibited by different cultivated species and their sporeless/low sporing mutants.