Biotechnology and Cultivation of Desert Truffles

Morte, Asunción; Honrubia, M.; Gutiérrez, Almudena

doi:10.1007/978-3-540-78826-3_23

Cited by 52 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, the desert truffles have been used in traditional medicine for more than two millennia without known harmful or toxic effects on their users (Al-Rahmah 2001). Due to their wide distribution in arid and semi-arid regions of the world, desert truffles are considered edible and an excellent source of nutrition since about 3,000 years (Chang 1980;Morte et al 2008), not only because of their particular biochemical composition (Trappe 1979;Al-Delaimy and Ali 1970;Morte et al 2009) but also due to a range of ethnomycological uses among dryland peoples (Mandeel and Al-Laith 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of climate on the productivity of desert truffles beneath hyper-arid conditions

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Desert truffles are edible hypogenous fungi that are very well adapted to conditions of aridity in arid and semi-arid regions. This study aims to highlight the influence of climatic factors on the productivity of desert truffles under hyper-arid climatic conditions of the Sahara Desert in Algeria, with assumptions that the more varying climatic factors, mainly rainfall, are more crucial for the development and production of desert truffles. At seven separate sites, desert truffles were collected by systematic sampling between 2006 and 2012. The effects of climate parameters of each site on the productivities (g/ha/year) of desert truffle species were tested using generalized linear models (GLMs). The annual mean of the total production recorded for all three harvested species (Terfezia arenaria, Terfezia claveryi, and Tirmania nivea) was 785.43 ± 743.39 g/ha. Tirmania nivea was commonly present over the sampled sites with an occurrence of 70 ± 10.1%. GLMs revealed that total and specific productivities were closely positively related to autumnal precipitations occurring during October-December, which is the critical pre-breeding period for both desert truffles and host plant species. The other climatic parameters have statistically no effect on the annual variation of desert truffle productivity.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of climate on the productivity of desert truffles beneath hyper-arid conditions

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Irrigation is one of the most important factors for maintaining successful cultivation since desert truffle fruiting depends on rainfall (Morte et al 2008). To optimize irrigation, we studied the water needs of mycorrhizal Helianthemum almeriense Pau plants in an orchard established in September 2008.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…inoculated with the desert truffle Terfezia claveryi Chatin. In the last 10 years, carpophores have fructified yearly and production has increased because of adequate land management and irrigation (Morte et al 2008(Morte et al , 2009. In these orchards, irrigation was applied at the end of the summer in dry years (when rainfall was less than 150 mm); in very dry years, a second irrigation was applied at the beginning of the fruiting season.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological parameters of desert truffle mycorrhizal Helianthemun almeriense plants cultivated in orchards under water deficit conditions

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Physiological parameters of mycorrhizal symbiosis by Helianthemum almeriense and Terfezia claveryi in orchards were characterized under water deficit conditions. Our orchard included 40 mycorrhizal and 40 nonmycorrhizal plants. Only mycorrhizal plants survived at the beginning of the experimental period, indicating dependency on fungal symbionts in roots for survival. Drought stress significantly affected the mycorrhizal colonization percentage which was 70% in nonirrigated mycorrhizal and 48% in irrigated mycorrhizal plants. No significant differences in plant growth were observed between nonirrigated and irrigated mycorrhizal plants before and after drought stress. Stomatal conductance was more sensitive to water stress than shoot water potential. It decreased more than two-fold under drought-stress compared to control mycorrhizal plants under irrigation/light saturating conditions, indicating important stomatal closure with water deficit. Plants' water use efficiency improved with drought with stomatal conductance values below 0.3 molm −2 s −1 . The ability to maintain open stomata and photosynthesis under drought increased carbon supply for growth, and ascocarp fruiting which requires current photosynthates. Basically, H. almeriense shows a conservative water use strategy based mainly on avoiding drought stress by reducing stomatal conductance as soil water potential decreases and atmospheric conditions dry. The results show that mycorrhizal H. almeriense plants maintain good physiological parameters with low soil matric potentials, thus making them an alternative agricultural crop in arid/semi-arid areas.

show abstract

“…Some species have been successfully cultivated and new biotechnologies to increase their productive yield and to extend their cultivation areas have been developed (Morte et al 2008, Slama et al 2010, Honrubia et al 2014. Kirk et al (2008) estimated that there are 12 species of Terfezia worldwide, while Index Fungorum (2015) lists 48 species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%