Abstract
Morels (Morchella spp.) are wild edible mushrooms and are globally known for their high nutritional value. The current study aims at probing the heavy metal content in early emerging autumn-type Morchella galilaea that occurs exclusively in the irrigated plains of Charsadda, Pakistan. The identification of samples was conducted through morphology and internal transcribed spacer sequence (ITS) data. Atomic absorption spectrophotometer was employed to analyze the soil and M. galilaea samples for heavy metals including Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn, and Cu. The heavy metal content in soil samples was within the permissible limits of SEPA China and WHO, USA with few exceptions. The hymenophore (H) and fruiting bodies (FB) were also analyzed revealing these metals within the permissible limits set by WHO and SEPA. Further analysis indicated that heavy metal concentration in the fruiting body (FB) was higher compared to those in the hymenophore (H). The toxicological assessment revealed that the transfer factor (TF) was less than 1 with a significant difference (p < 0.05) among samples. The daily intake of metals and health risk index values for all samples were <1. Hence, the daily intake of M. galilaea harvested from the wild has no toxicological hazards to human health, especially in the heavy metal concentration.