Site characteristics of Tuber magnatum in Greece

Abstract

Day after day it is being demonstrated that Greece hides a buried treasure in its forests. The wild black truffles Tuber aestivum, T. uncinatum, T. brumale and T. melanosporum and the white truffle T. borchii and recently T. magnatum are picked in a variety of forest ecosystems all over the country. The information which has been collected has initiated a national programme on truffle cultivation which, so far, has immense appeal, especially among young farmers. The discovery of carpophores of T. magnatum, the most valued white truffle in the market, triggered the interest in studying the site characteristics, botanical and pedological, in order to help farmers to cultivate the species in similar sites. All carpophores were found under hornbeam (Carpinus orientalis) along the banks of a creek on alluvial sediment. Soil analyses of four soil samples from truffle nests showed a narrow range of values of pH in water (7.57-7.78) and 1N ) and a similar granulometric soil texture.

Plant, Soil and Microbes

“…Distributed in Central and Southern Europe (between 40° and 46° N) (Rubini et al 2005 ;Piltaver and Ratosa 2006 ;Jeandroz et al 2008 ;Milenkovic et al 2009 ;Christopolous et al 2013 ).…”

Tuberomics: a molecular profiling for the adaption of edible fungi (Tuber magnatum Pico) to different natural environments

“…one-way ANOVA, and Tukey HSD post-test were used to evaluate the statistical significance of sample comparisons (see Additional file 1: Table S1). Most of the spots (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,12,13,16,18) displayed higher medium average intensity in Alba samples, whilst spot 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 17 and 19 were more abundant in Isernia samples; finally, only spot 11 and 17 were found as over-represented in San Miniato samples ( Fig. 2).…”

“…Given their elevated statistical significance, spots 1-9 appeared as the best indicators of different sample origin. In particular, seven of them (1,2,3,4,5,7,8) were associated with the highest significance in the comparison between Alba and San Miniato, while spot 6 and 9 showed top significance in the comparison Alba vs Isernia (AL vs IS) and Isernia vs San Miniato (IS vs SM), respectively (see Additional file 1: Table S1). The relatedness of the samples was evaluated by a principal component analysis (PCA) applied to the intensity values of the selected 2-DE spots.…”

“…Due to the scarcity of samples harvested in the natural environment, the annual production does not cover the high demand for T. magnatum truffles, whose prices are ranging from 300 to 400 € hg − 1 [6,7]. Different retail prices are applied to fruiting bodies depending on their harvesting place, considering that the geographical distribution of the species extends from Italy to East Europe (Croatia, Slovenia, and Hungary), including Greece [8], South of France [9] and Switzerland [10]. One distinct feature of the white truffle, as well as of fruiting bodies of different Tuber species, is in fact the highly different degree of appreciation by the consumers, which is related to the different aroma and flavor specificities due to truffle growth environment.…”

Sustainable cultivation of the white truffle (Tuber magnatum) requires ecological understanding

“…The remaining host plants with a relative abundance < 10% are represented by Hop hornbeam ( Ostrya carpinifolia ), hornbeam ( Carpinus betulus and C. orientalis ), linden ( Tilia platyphyllos , T. cordata , and T. vulgaris ), and hazel ( Corylus avellana ). The last few percent of all known host plants is represented by five species, all from different genera: Abies alba , Alnus cordata , Fagus sylvatica , Pyrus pyraster , and Ulmus minor (for the host species listed see Supplementary Data and Caramiello 1968 ; Montacchini 1968 ; Montacchini and Caramielo 1968 ; Lulli et al 1991 ; Panini et al 1991 ; Bragato et al 1992 ; Lulli et al 1992 ; Mirabella et al 1992 ; Lorenzelli et al 1996 ; Hall et al 1998 ; Rubini et al 2001 ; Mello et al 2005 ; Bertini et al 2006 ; Bragato et al 2010 ; Ciaschetti et al 2010 ; Di Massimo et al 2010 ; Donnini et al 2010 ; Gregori et al 2010 ; Pavarino et al 2010 ; Iotti et al 2012 ; Piattoni et al 2012 ; Christopoulos et al 2013 ; Leonardi et al 2013 ; Iotti et al 2014 ; Salerni et al 2014 ; Lalli et al 2015 ; Murat et al 2018 ; Vita et al 2018 ; Büntgen et al 2019a , b ; Gregorčič et al 2020 ; Petrella et al 2020 ). Note, however, that the relative abundance of host plants is biased by those publications that have revealed their existence, and not all WT-host plant combinations have been confirmed by molecular identification of both partners in WT mycorrhizas.…”