Desert Truffle Cultivation in Semiarid Mediterranean Areas

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

doi:10.1007/978-3-540-87978-7_15

Cited by 40 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Ascospores: bluish, thin-walled, freely arranged within the asci, ellipsoid, 15-18 × 11-13.5 µm ( Figure 4I). The morphological and anatomical characteristics of Terfezia arenaria, Terfezia claveryi, and Tirmania nivea found in the study area are in ideal agreement with descriptions of the same truffle species of Africa (Malençon, 1973;Khabar et al, 2001;Slama et al, 2006), those of Kuwait (Alsheikh and Trappe, 1983), Saudi Arabia (Bokhary, 1987), Irak (Abd-Allah et al, 1989), Egypt (El-Kholy, 1989), Mediterranean Basin (Morte et al, 2009), and at world scale (Trappe, 1979).…”

Section: Morphometric Description Of Surveyed Trufflessupporting

confidence: 88%

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Desert truffles of the North Algerian Sahara: Diversity and bioecology

Bradai¹,

Bissati²,

Chenchouni³

2014

Emir. J. Food Agric

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This study reports on the bio-ecology of desert truffles collected from the Northern Algerian Sahara. It aims focused on (i) the identification of desert truffle species with a morphometric characterization, (ii) the determination of their geographical distribution, and (iii) the description of the edaphic, climatic and geomorphological characteristics of their natural habitat. The harvest of 78 truffle fruiting bodies from seven different locations resulted in the identification of three species of the family Pezizaceae: Terfezia arenaria (Moris) Trappe, Terfezia claveryi Chatin and Tirmania nivea (Desf.) Trappe. These hypogeous ascomycetes live in mycorrhizal association with Helianthemum lippii (Cistaceae). Desert truffles grow in heterogeneous soils of sandy texture, moderately calcareous (10.19 ± 1.37%), slightly alkaline (7.87 ± 0.22), with low organic matter (0.86 ± 0.1%) and slight phosphorus contents. The development of desert truffles is closely linked with high rainfall occurring during fall and/or winter. The truffles colonize desert depressions "Dayas" and beds of Wadis, since these geomorphological zones accumulate rainwater, which promotes the growth of both truffles and its host-plant.

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Section: Morphometric Description Of Surveyed Trufflessupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The seasonal distribution of rainfall is as important as its quantity, i.e. the rain is required, for both fungi and host-plant growth, no later than early December in North Africa and the Middle East; and at least in early October in southern Europe (Morte et al, 2009). …”

Section: Climatic Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Desert truffles of the North Algerian Sahara: Diversity and bioecology

Bradai¹,

Bissati²,

Chenchouni³

2014

Emir. J. Food Agric

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“…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

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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.

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“…is included in the Pezizaceae (Laessøe & Hansen 2007) within the order Pezizales. The edible hypogeous ascomata of these fungi are known as "desert truffles" due to their habitat, which is typically arid and semi-arid ecosystems, mostly in the Mediterranean region (Morte et al 2009, Zambonelli et al 2014 and constitute an important economic resource for the local populations (Shavit 2014). Species of Terfezia have a long history of culinary and medical uses, because they are rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds (Shavit & Shavit 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%