Original scientific paper
The soil environment for Tuber magnatum growth in Motovun Forest, Istria
G. Bragato
B. Sladonja
Đ. Peršurić
Abstract
The mixed oak forest located near the town of Motovun is a well-known white truffle (Tuber magnatum Pico) producing area of the Istria region. Motovun Forest covers a 900-ha area in the fluvial plain of the Mirna River, which flows into the Adriatic Sea through a hilly landscape originating in a sedimentary sequence of a Triassic-Eocene carbonatic platform and Eocene-Oligocene Flysch turbidites. T. magnatum production has been decreasing in the last 10 years and a study was specifically performed in an attempt to explain this. Productive soils of the valley bottom were compared with unproductive soils on the 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 were thick and continuously rejuvenated by the frequent arrival of fine sediments from slopes, but only unproductive ones were characterized by water saturation in some periods of the year. The soil comparison proved the need of T. magnatum for an alkaline, moist, very well drained and aerated soil environment. Moreover, soils suitable for T. magnatum should be neither too dry nor too moist. In Motovun Forest, the decrease in production has been taking place in conjunction with public works that have modified the hydraulic equilibrium of the area causing an overall drying of the forest soil.
Keywords
Tuber magnatum; soil; Motovun forest; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
10662
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2004.
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