Economic Importance of Basidiomycetes
- Basidiomycetes are of beneficial as well as harmful nature but still, they possess great economic importance.
- Some basidiomycetes are the causative agents which cause destructive diseases in cereal crops including wheat, oats, barley, etc.
- Basidiomycetes like pore fungi are the wood rotters that destroy lumbar and timber.
- Basidiomycetes like Mushrooms are of great economic value as food. They are cultivated for being delicious and rich in various sources.
- Species of puffballs including Lycoperdon and Clavatia, their young fleshy sporophores can be eaten as Clavatia is consist of a substance called calvacin that is used in the treatment of cancer.
- However, the toadstools are poisonous. Some of these, like Amanita, are poisonous to the point of death, while others just cause discomfort. With the roots of forest trees, many members of this class develop ectotrophic mycorrhizal connections.
- While the mantle of the fungal partner serves to transfer nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements received by the mycelium to the root, the fungus acquires sugars and other organic substances from the roots of the tree partner.
- Saprophytic Basidiomycetes are important in the decomposition of dead fallen leaves and other forest litter because they transform waste and bring it back into the soil.
Basidiomycetes
Biological classification can be defined as a method used to categorize and group living organisms based on their characteristics and functions. And this is also known as taxonomy. R.H. Whittaker divided living organisms into 5 kingdoms based on their cellular structure, complexity, reproduction, mode of nutrition, and phylogenetic relationships. The five kingdoms are Monera, Protista, Fungi, Animalia, and Plantae.