CHEN Wanchao, LI Wen, CHEN Hui, ZHANG Jinjing, TANG Lihua, WU Di, ZHANG Zhong, YANG Yan
In order to explore the nutritional quality of cultivated Morchella in high-altitude areas, three varieties of M. sextelata, M6, HB-8 and HB-5, were cultivated in Qinghai Plateau (altitude of 3 570 m), and the resultant fruiting bodies were labeled as GYM6, GYHB8 and GYHB5, respectively. They were compared with a wild Morchella sample (GYYS) from the same high-altitude region and fruiting bodies of M6, HB-8 and HB-5 cultivated in Hubei Plain (labeled as PYM6, PYHB8 and PYHB5 respectively) for crude protein, crude fat, crude polysaccharide, ash, crude fiber, mineral elements, vitamins, and amino acids. The results showed that for the same variety, fruiting bodies cultivated at high altitude (GYM6, GYHB8 and GYHB5) contained a lower content of ash and higher contents of crude protein and crude fat than those cultivated in plain region (PYM6, PYHB8 and PYHB5). Compared with PYHB8 and PYHB5, GYHB8 and GYHB5 also contained significantly less crude fiber. For minerals and vitamins, GYM6, GYHB8 and GYHB5 contained significantly lower contents of K, Fe, VB6,VB9 (folic acid), VD and VE than those of PYM6, PYHB8 and PYHB5. In contrast, GYM6, GYHB8 and GYHB5 contained significantly more VB1 compared with PYM6, PYHB8 and PYHB5. The contents of total amino acids, total indispensable amino acids and the ratio of total indispensable amino acids in total amino acids in GYM6, GYHB8 and GYHB5 all increased significantly compared with those of PYM6, PYHB8 and PYHB5. The indispensable amino acid index of morel fruiting bodies cultivated at high altitude was significantly greater than that of fruiting bodies cultivated in plain, more resembling the FAO/WHO standard with a higher biological value (BV). There was a an extremely significant negative correlation between contents of vitamins, i.e. VB6, VB9, VD and VE, and total indispensable amino acids content, and a significant positive correlation between VB6 content and crude polysaccharide content. Heatmap cluster analysis showed that the tested Morchella species had outstanding nutritional value when cultivated in Qinghai Plateau, while they had a high mineral content when cultivated in Hubei Plain. Based on principal component analysis and fuzzy mathematics membership function, the scoring results of GYM6, GYHB8 and GYHB5 were significantly better than those of PYM6, PYHB8 and PYHB5.
