Strategies for innovative sustainable truffle cultivation in the truffle habitats of the Siena area
The project aims at an innovative management of truffles in the Crete Senesi territory, both in the natural and cultivated environment. In Italy we are witnessing a strong decrease in the natural production of truffles with serious socio-economic and environmental consequences. In order to tackle this worrying decline and preserve local biodiversity, it is necessary to carefully manage natural truffles (with practices capable of favouring, increasing and safeguarding the truffle resource) and improve truffle cultivation also through the sustainable use of water and soil, in order to respond to the growing market demand for truffles.
The project includes:
- the restoration, recovery and production improvement of natural truffle areas (Tuber magnatum) by cleaning the undergrowth, regulating and reusing the surface water, planting of in situ symbiont tree cuttings with inoculation of local truffles and use of bacterial strains;
- a sustainable truffle cultivation: water management of truffle soils, use of local germplasm etc.;
- a monitoring of the applied techniques: analysis of the mycorrhization and of the content of mycelium in the soil, assessment of production in relation to climatic trends, etc.
- all these actions will be the subject of demonstration activities in the project-partner farms.
Declining natural truffle hedges have been adversely affected by the excessive exploitation of the production sites, climate change and inadequate hydraulic management of the soils. The area identified (Crete Senesi) has a complex orography with bad areas and valley floors characterized by limited agricultural production and often subject to erosion, hydrogeological instability, water stress. This territory is characterized by a riparian vegetation dominated by poplars and willows in the valley floor and a more mesophilic vegetation of oak groves, holm oaks and semi-natural pine forests on the slopes. The project partner companies for the experimentation / transfer of innovation are located in the Asso river basin, belonging to the Municipalities of Montalcino and Buonconvento.
"The project foresees an innovative management of the truffle hunters in the Crete Senesi area, both in the natural and cultivated areas. Although the recent scientific knowledge acquired allows the use of rational cultivation techniques, the management of the habitats of the most prized species in the world (the white truffle) is too often conducted empirically.
The project plans to carry out:
1. Restoration, recovery and production improvement of natural Tuber magnatum truffle hunters: cleaning of the undergrowth; regulation and reuse of surface water; planting of cuttings of symbiotic plants in situ with inoculation of local truffle and use of bacterial strains isolated in the same truffle grounds with a basic metagenomic study carried out previously.
Once the experimental phase is over, these innovative interventions are now ready for the demonstration phase in order to disseminate their validity and effectiveness through comparison with the current management techniques of natural white truffle truffle hunters.
2. Sustainable truffle growing: water management of truffle soils; use of local germplasm (plant and truffle) for the preparation of truffle plants and the inoculum to be distributed; increase in the cultivation of species (Tuber aestivum and Tuber borchii) considered to be minor but which, thanks to the potential of the territory, allow a seasonal diversification of the market offer and adaptation to current climate changes. In each partner company, the parcels with innovative management will be compared with those with traditional management."
Documentazione del convegno finale del GO HABITAR-SI
Biodiversità, I Gruppi Operativi, Toscana, PEI-AGRITitolo/Descrizione | Url | Tipologia |
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Sito web del progetto
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Sito web
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La relazione finale del Gruppo Operativo Habitar Si
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Materiali utili
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La brochure del Gruppo Operativo Habitar Si
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Materiali utili
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Tartuficoltura sostenibile e innovativa negli habitat tartufigeni senesi
Le azioni svolte nel progetto sono state dirette a un monitoraggio puntuale delle tartufaie naturali, la realizzazione di impianti tartufigeni con metodologie innovative in…