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First report of European truffle ectomycorrhiza in the semi-arid climate of Saudi Arabia

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Abstract

Tuber melanosporum Vittad. (Black or Périgord truffle) is a truffle native to the Mediterranean Southern Europe, popular for its unique flavor, and has great economic importance. The present work focused on assessing the possibility of cultivating T. melanosporum associated with Quercus robur L. in the desert climate of Saudi Arabia. The plantation was initiated in November 2018 by planting 271 oak seedlings in the Al-Qassim desert area and checked for survival and ectomycorrhiza development after 1.5 years of plantation maintenance. Amongst the 271 seedlings planted, 243 plants survived two harsh seasons (2019 and 2020), and the randomly selected and tested seedlings were still mycorrhized with T. melanosporum. The mycorrhization level with T. melanosporum was between 5 and 35% of all fine roots, and the share of contaminant ectomycorrhiza was low. In comparison to other areas where T. melanosporum is successfully cultivated, the Al-Qassim desert area has 10–15 °C higher average summer temperatures and a low total annual precipitation, which necessitates regular irrigation of the plantation. This work opens the avenue for an adapted, yet sustainable cultivation of T. melanosporum-inoculated oak tree in a desert climatic condition and introduces new opportunities of the agro-forest business in Saudi Arabia and GCC region.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the SBL Knowledge for Investment, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for covering all financial expenses during the entire course of this investigation. We are obliged to Mr. Bader Al-Sohaibani and Mr. Sultan Alfarhan for their excellent work and support to our truffle farm. Furthermore, we are thankful to Ms. Salsbile Aboud for her inputs during proofreading and editing of the article. We are thankful to the Slovenian Research Agency for supporting Slovenian co-author through the Research Programme P4-0107 “Forest biology, Ecology and Technology”, and a research project J4-1766 (Methodology approaches in genome-based diversity and ecological plasticity study of truffles from their natural distribution areas).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Processing Technology, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Karunya Nagar, Coimbatore, 641 114, India

    Seema R. Bajaj

  2. Department of Food Engineering and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Matunga (E), Mumbai, 400 019, India

    Sandesh J. Marathe

  3. Department of Forest Physiology and Genetics, Slovenian Forestry Institute, Večna Pot 2, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Tine Grebenc

  4. Department of Agricultural and Food Science, University of Bologna, 40 126, Bologna, Italy

    Alessandra Zambonelli

  5. Juva Truffle Research Centre, Huttulantie, 1C 51901, Juva, Finland

    Salem Shamekh

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  1. Seema R. Bajaj
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Correspondence to Seema R. Bajaj.

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Bajaj, S.R., Marathe, S.J., Grebenc, T. et al. First report of European truffle ectomycorrhiza in the semi-arid climate of Saudi Arabia. 3 Biotech 11, 24 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-020-02559-w

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