Counter-season cultivation of truffles in the Southern Hemisphere: an update

Abstract

The cultivation of truffles in the Southern Hemisphere began in New Zealand in the mid-1980s and the first fruiting bodies of Tuber melanosporum were harvested in Gisborne in 1993. Cultivation started in Australia soon after and the first truffles were found in Tasmania in 1999. Now there are more than 150 mostly small truffières in New Zealand, and approximatively 200-250 plantations in Australia some of which are very large. Most of the productive truffières have been established with Tuber melanosporum Vittad. infected plants but more recently fruiting bodies of Tuber borchii Vittad. and Tuber aestivum Vittad. have been harvested. Chile followed by Argentina and South Africa were the next to get involved and produced in 2009, 2014 and 2015 respectively. Over the past 10 years alternative techniques have been tried in Italy, China and New Zealand in attempts to control contaminating ectomycorrhizal fungi in the nursery – arguably the most important problem facing the cultivation of truffles worldwide.