The crop of desert truffle depends on agroclimatic parameters during two key annual periods
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(2019) 39:51
RESEARCH ARTICLE
The crop of desert truffle depends on agroclimatic parameters during two key annual periods Alberto Andrino 1 & Alfonso Navarro-Ródenas 2 & José Eduardo Marqués-Gálvez 2,3 & Asunción Morte 2,3 Accepted: 22 September 2019 # INRA and Springer-Verlag France SAS, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Desert truffles have become an alternative agricultural crop in semiarid areas of the Iberian Peninsula due to their much appreciated edible value and their low water requirements for cultivation. Although most studies related to desert truffle production point to the sole importance of precipitation, this work is the first systematic study carried out to characterize whether other important agroclimatic parameters, for example reference evapotranspiration, soil water potential, relative air humidity %, aridity index or air vapour pressure deficit, may have an impact on a desert truffle production in an orchard with mycorrhizal plants of Helianthemum almeriense × Terfezia claveryi for 15 years from the plantation. The results show for the first time that T. claveryi production has two key periods, during its annual cycle: autumn (September to October) and spring (end of March). The aridity index and soil water potential seem to be the most manageable parameters in the field and can be easily controlled by applying irrigation during the abovementioned periods. Agroclimatic parameters can influence the final crop a long time before the desert truffle fruiting season contrary to what happens with other edible mycorrhizal mushrooms. Four different models to manage desert truffle plantations are proposed based on these agroclimatic parameters in order to optimize and stabilize carpophore fructifications over the years. Keywords Terfezia . Helianthemum . Agroclimatic parameters . Precipitation . Aridity index
1 Introduction During the last few decades, great efforts have been made to domesticate diverse species of edible mycorrhizal fungi such as saffron milk caps, matsutake, boletus, black truffles or desert truffles (Hall et al. 2003). However, compared with saprophytic fungi, the cultivation of mycorrhizal fungi continues to be more challenging and fewer species of mycorrhizal fungi are cultivated. One of the main difficulties for their cultivation
Alberto Andrino and Alfonso Navarro-Ródenas contributed equally to this work. * Asunción Morte [email protected] 1
Institute of Soil Science, Leibniz Universität Hannover, 30419 Hanover, Germany
2
Departamento de Biología Vegetal (Botánica), Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain
3
Thader Biotechnology SL, Ed. CAID, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain
is the difficulty involved in the optimization and stabilization of the fruiting bodies crop over time (Morte et al. 2012). Desert truffles are edible hypogeous fungi of the Pezizaceae family (Pezizales, Ascomycetes), and these mycorrhizal fungi have been used as food for thousands of years in countries with arid or semiarid climates (Volpato et al
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