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Wild Morels in Pakistan: Environmental and Trading Statues

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Biodiversity, Conservation and Sustainability in Asia

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Abstract

Wild Morels are among the preferably used food due to their high nutrient content. These play a significant role in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. Morels are classified as black, yellow, and brown forms. More than 5000 local families are involved in morel collection. The percentages of different age groups involved are 54% children, 24% women, and 22% men in the trading market. The Rehman Traders, Salman Traders, Islamabad, M. Hussain and Co, Mingora, Essa Jaffer, and Co are the main traders and exporters of morels in Pakistan. The morels are used as antioxidants, antitumor healing, anti-inflammatory, and antidiabetic agents and to overcome heart diseases. The cultivation and production of morels are currently very limited in Pakistan. The reasons are deforestation, climate change, high temperatures, low moisture percentage, urbanization, and overgrazing, all affecting adversely the productivity of morels.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Hussain Badshah, Abdul Samad Mumtaz, Barkat Ali, Javed Iqbal & Shahab Ali

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Karakoram International University, Gilgit, Pakistan

    Ishtiaq Hussain

Authors
  1. Hussain Badshah
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  2. Abdul Samad Mumtaz
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  3. Ishtiaq Hussain
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  4. Barkat Ali
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  5. Javed Iqbal
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  6. Shahab Ali
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Center for Environmental Studies, Ege University, Izmir, Türkiye

    Münir Öztürk

  2. Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Shujaul Mulk Khan

  3. Biology Department, Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya-Hatay, Türkiye

    Volkan Altay

  4. Department of Geography, Balıkesir University, Istanbul, Türkiye

    Recep Efe

  5. Faculty of Biology, National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

    Dilfuza Egamberdieva

  6. Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

    Furkat O. Khassanov

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Badshah, H., Mumtaz, A.S., Hussain, I., Ali, B., Iqbal, J., Ali, S. (2022). Wild Morels in Pakistan: Environmental and Trading Statues. In: Öztürk, M., Khan, S.M., Altay, V., Efe, R., Egamberdieva, D., Khassanov, F.O. (eds) Biodiversity, Conservation and Sustainability in Asia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73943-0_38

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