engleski

The soil environment for Tuber magnatum growth in Motovun forest, Istria

The mixed oak forest located near the town of Motovun is one of the most famous white truffle (Tuber magnatum Pico) producing areas of Istria region. Motovun forest covers a 900-ha area in the fluvial plain of River Mirna, which flows into the Adriatic Sea in a hilly landscape originated by a sedimentary sequence of a Triassic-Eocene carbonatic platform and Eocene-Oligocene Flysch turbidites. T. magnatum production - which is located only in the valley bottom - has been decreasing in the last years and a specific investigation was carried out to characterize the soil environment of the Motovun area suitable for truffle production, and to explain why a decrease of production is taking place. Productive soils under Motovun forest were compared with unproductive soils on slopes, the latter being drier, thinner and more developed than the former. T. magnatum carpophores are not found all over the fluvial plain and Motovun forest was further subdivided into productive, unproductive and occasionally productive areas. All soils of the valley bottom are thick and scarcely developed thanks to the continuous arrival of fine sediments from slopes, but only unproductive ones are characterized by water saturation in some periods of the year. The soil comparison proved the need of T. magnatum for a moist, very well drained and alkaline soil environment, specifically characterized by high rates of aeration and softness. Moreover, soils suitable for T. magnatum should be neither too dry nor too moist. In Motovun forest, instead, the decrease of production has been taking place in combination with public works that have modified the hydraulic equilibrium of the area causing an overall drying of the forest soil.

Tuber magnatum; soil; Motovun forest; Croatia

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