Cultivation, Phytochemical screening and Antimicrobial analysis of caterpillar mushroom Cordyceps militaris and fruiting body

The fungus Cordyceps militaris comes under the family cordyciptiaceae and class ascomycetes. In ancient time it was used in Chinese and Tibetan medicines for lungs and kidney diseases but with the change in era, more researches were conducted on it. This study was designed for the cultivation of Cordyceps militaris (C.M.) mushroom on brown rice media as the measure component and evaluation of its quantitative, qualitative and free radical scavenging activity of the methanolic extract. To know the bioactive compounds, preliminary phytochemical analysis was done which states that methanolic extract of Cordyceps contains protein, phenol, alkaloids, tannin, flavonoids, coumarins, polysaccharides and carbohydrates. The quantitative analysis of methanolic extract was quantified using determination of total phenol and total flavonoids using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and Aluminium calorimetric assay method respectively. Phyto- compounds were depicted through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Gas chromatography- mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) while the free radical scavenging activity was determined using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-pycryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assay, hydrogen peroxide assay, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay and reducing power assay. Highest phenolic and flavonoid contents were depicted in CM100%meth while CM100%meth. showed highest free radical scavenging activity. The assessment of extract for antimicrobial activity was done with well diffusion method against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria revealing that aqueous and methanolic extract are more effective against Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli.