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Soil Characteristics of Tuber melanosporum Habitat

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True Truffle (Tuber spp.) in the World

Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 47))

Abstract

Tuber melanosporum belongs to the genus Tuber that only includes mycorrhizal fungi living and fruiting underground within the soil environment. T. melanosporum prefers sites in ridges or slopes, where water does not accumulate, and fractured parent materials where water can drain well. Rocky soils with crumb or subangular blocky structure, whose aggregates are stable to fast water immersion, are preferable for truffle cultivation, mostly when their texture is balanced and their clay content moderate. Tuber fungi thrive in alkaline soils with their exchange complex saturated by calcium or magnesium and high in well-mineralised organic matter. These soil conditions are all common in the landscape, but they seldom occur all at the same site. This is what makes natural truffle habitat scarce and disperse. Yet several of these soil characteristics can be modified and many farmlands can become excellent truffle orchards with the adequate soil management practices. These include liming, tilling or adding rock fragments and well-decomposed organic matter in soil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Eco&Sols UMR 1222, 2 place Pierre Viala, 34060, Montpellier cedex 2, France

    Benoît Jaillard

  2. Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya, Ctra. Sant Llorenç de Morunys, km 2, 25280, Solsona, Spain

    Daniel Oliach & Carlos Colinas

  3. Station d’Expérimentation sur la Truffe, Lycée professionnel agricole, Lacoste, 46090, Le Montat, France

    Pierre Sourzat

  4. Department of Crop and Forest Sciences, University of Lleida, Av. Rovira Roure 191, 25198, Lleida, Spain

    Carlos Colinas

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  1. Benoît Jaillard
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  2. Daniel Oliach
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  3. Pierre Sourzat
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  4. Carlos Colinas
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Correspondence to Benoît Jaillard .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Science, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Alessandra Zambonelli

  2. Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila , L’Aquila , Italy

    Mirco Iotti

  3. Interactions Arbres-Microorganismes Lab of Excellence ARBRE, INRA, Université de Lorraine, Champenoux, France

    Claude Murat

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Jaillard, B., Oliach, D., Sourzat, P., Colinas, C. (2016). Soil Characteristics of Tuber melanosporum Habitat. In: Zambonelli, A., Iotti, M., Murat, C. (eds) True Truffle (Tuber spp.) in the World. Soil Biology, vol 47. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31436-5_11

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