Interactions between Tuber borchii and other ectomycorrhizal fungi in a field plantation

The cultivation and competitiveness of Tuber borchii was investigated. Seed lings of Pinus pinea were infected either with T. borchii, Laccana bicolor (strain S238), Hebeloma sinapizans, T. borchii and L. bicolor, or T, borchi i and H. sinapizans. Uninoculated seedlings weakly infected with Sphaerospo ella brunnea were used as controls. In 1940 the seedlings were transplanted to a coastal site at Marina di Ravenna, Italy. Examination of seedling roo ts in 1994 and 1995 showed that L. bicolor, H. sinapizans and S. brunnea ec tomyconhizas were replaced by T. borchii and other ectomycorrhizal fungi. T he DNA sequence of the ITS region was analysed using the specific pair of p rimers, ITS1-ITS4, to type the ectomycorrhizas of Tuber borchii. The ectomy corrhizas were also identified by digestion of the PCR products using diffe rent restriction enzymes. T. borchii truffle production began in 1994 and f or the next four years an average of 7 kg of truffles ha(-1) were harvested . This study describes a simple method for the cultivation of T. borchii.