Cultivation of Mediterranean species of Tuber (Tuberaceae) in British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

Based on an assessment of soil and climatic conditions in British Columbia (BC), the Truffle Association of British Columbia (TABC) determined that the cultivation of Mediterranean Tuber melanosporum and Tuber aestivum might be possible in the warmer parts of the province. With the cooperation of independent truffle growers, TABC assessed the colonization of host tree roots collected from eight truffle orchards planted 2-7 years earlier using morphological and molecular criteria. Both Tuber species persisted on the roots of inoculated trees in six of the eight truffle orchards studied. The identity of Tuber ectomycorrhizas that had been characterized morphologically as differing from those of T. melanosporum and T. aestivum were determined using DNA sequence analysis to belong to three species of truffles native to the Pacific Northwest. One of those species, Tuber anniae, had been previously reported from BC, but the other two, Tuber menseri nom. prov. and Tuber beyerlei, are reported here from BC for the first time. Recently, production of three Périgord black truffles in one truffle orchard and one Burgundy truffle in another orchard demonstrates that these truffles are able to fruit in BC.

Mycorrhizal detection of native and non-native truffles in a historic arboretum and the discovery of a new North American species, Tuber arnoldianum sp. nov.

“…Tuber anniae was described from Washington (Colgan and Trappe 1997) and has been reported from Alaska, Nebraska, Finland, Estonia, Eastern Canada, and non-native pine plantations in New Zealand Berch and Bonito 2014). As pointed out by , it is difficult to tell from the available data if this is a single species with a disjunct distribution or if there are two or more cryptic species.…”

“…In 2012, truffles of T. borchii Clade I were successfully harvested from inoculated trees in Idaho (Berch 2013) and this species was recently detected on roots in a truffière in British Columbia (Berch and Bonito 2014). The presence of T. borchii in British Columbia likely resulted from a mix-up of inoculated seedlings by the supplier (Berch and Bonito 2014). The mOTU of the ectomycorrhizae in British Columbia were phylogenetically resolved in Clade I of Bonuso et al (2010).…”

“…To date, there are no other sequences for this clade from outside of Europe. In 2012, truffles of T. borchii Clade I were successfully harvested from inoculated trees in Idaho (Berch 2013) and this species was recently detected on roots in a truffière in British Columbia (Berch and Bonito 2014). The presence of T. borchii in British Columbia likely resulted from a mix-up of inoculated seedlings by the supplier (Berch and Bonito 2014).…”

“…Highly similar sequences were downloaded and aligned with Tuber sequences from root tips and ascomata, along with sequences from phylogenetic analyses of the /puberulum and /maculatum clades of Berch and Bonito (2014) Guevara et al (2013), Su et al (2013), and Wang et al (2013). Alignments of ITS sequences for the /maculatum and /puberulum clades were generated and analyzed.…”

“…Tuber lauryi is only known from Oregon (Guevara et al 2013). Tuber beyerlei Trappe, Bonito, and Guevara is known from Pseudotsuga in Oregon, and Corylus in British Columbia (Berch and Bonito 2014).This species has larger spores (37-47 × 32-40 μm) than T. arnoldianum, with more numerous alveolae (6-10 across the length × 3-8 across the width), smaller peridial cells (7-30 μm wide), and longer, thinner hyphoid hairs (35-85 × 2-4 μm). The primary differences between T. arnoldianum and T. mexiusanum Guevara, Bonito, and Cázares are that T. mexiusanum has more numerous alveolae on its spores (4-8 across the length × 3-5 across the width) and a thinner inner peridium (30-125 μm thick).…”