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Frequency of the two mating types in the soil under productive and non-productive trees in five French orchards of the Périgord black truffle (Tuber melanosporum Vittad.)

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Abstract

The Périgord black truffle (Tuber melanosporum Vittad.) is an ectomycorrhizal fungus forming edible fructifications. The production of T. melanosporum relies mainly on man-made plantations. T. melanosporum is a heterothallic species requiring the meeting of two partners of opposite mating types to fruit. It is common to have productive and non-productive trees in the same orchard. The aim of our study was to assess the distribution of T. melanosporum mating types in soil under productive and non-productive trees to test whether the presence or absence of one or two mating types could be an indicator of productivity. To achieve this aim, five orchards were selected in various French regions. Soils were harvested under productive and non-productive Quercus pubescens; soil characteristics and the distribution of the mating types in the soil were investigated. No significant differences between productive and non-productive soils according to soil parameters were detected. The total content of T. melanosporum DNA in the soil was significantly higher under productive trees compared with non-productive trees, and it was positively correlated only with soil available phosphorous. Under productive trees, it was more frequent to find both mating types than under non-productive trees. Soils with only one mating type were more frequent under non-productive trees than under productive ones. Moreover, no mating type was detected in the soil of 22% of the non-productive trees. These results suggest that the detection of T. melanosporum mating types in soil could be a tool to optimise the management of truffle orchards (e.g. by spore inoculation).

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to Jean Marie Doublet, Pierre Fourès and Michel Tournayre, the truffle orchard owners, for their cooperation and assistance in the choice of the trees studied. A particular thanks to Pierre Sourzat and Patrick Rejou for their help in finding the truffle orchards.

Funding

The French National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the ‘Investissements d’Avenir’ program (ANR-11-LABX-0002-01, Lab of Excellence ARBRE) and ANR SYSTERRA SYSTRUF (ANR-09-STRA-10) financed this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Lorraine, INRAE, UMR Interactions Arbres/Microorganismes, Centre INRAE Grand Est Nancy, Champenoux, France

    Juan Chen, Herminia De la Varga, Flora Todesco, Pauline Beacco, Elena Martino, François Le Tacon & Claude Murat

  2. Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Juan Chen

  3. R+D+I Department, FERTINAGRO BIOTECH, S.L, 74, Calle Los Enebros, 44002, Teruel, Spain

    Herminia De la Varga

  4. WETRUF SAS, 2, avenue de la Forêt de Haye, 54500, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

    Flora Todesco

  5. Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Elena Martino

Authors
  1. Juan Chen
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  2. Herminia De la Varga
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  3. Flora Todesco
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  4. Pauline Beacco
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  5. Elena Martino
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  6. François Le Tacon
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  7. Claude Murat
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Correspondence to Claude Murat.

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Conflict of interest

Claude Murat is one of the inventors of the international patent entitled “Molecular method for the identification of mating type genes of truffles species” (EP2426215 A1).

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Chen, J., De la Varga, H., Todesco, F. et al. Frequency of the two mating types in the soil under productive and non-productive trees in five French orchards of the Périgord black truffle (Tuber melanosporum Vittad.). Mycorrhiza 31, 361–369 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-020-01011-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-020-01011-4

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