Regeneration of native California oak trees with black truffle cultivation

Commodities

• Additional Plants: trees
• Miscellaneous: mushrooms

Practices

• Crop Production: agroforestry
• Natural Resources/Environment: afforestation
• Soil Management: soil microbiology

California’s native oak population has declined because of long
drought, goldspotted oak borers and other diseases, negatively
impacting the local ecosystem. Some species, such as Engelmann
Oak, have fallen into threatened status.  While many acres
of agriculture land are left idle due to high cost of farming and
low produce prices, reforestation is not occurring naturally.
Seedlings from oak acorns need deliberate effort to survive the
initial years, including irrigation, protection from wild animals
and weed control. We design a new agroforest system to bring
income to farmers and locally produced delicacy to consumers and
replenish the native oak forest. Our project will test the
feasibility of introduction of black truffle fungi to roots of
native oak seedlings and observe their development in local
soils, which is the first step of setting up truffle cultivation
with native oak trees. The black truffle fungi will provide
extended root network for oak trees and help them fend off
diseases. The black truffles produced from the replanted trees
will become a high value crop and bring income to farmers,
thereby making the reforestation effort financially sustainable
with many benefits to the ecosystem. We will communicate with
farmers and agriculture professionals nationwide and statewide
with our results and host outreach activities in our local
communities. We will also educate students and future farmers
about the new agroforest system for truffle production.

1. to optimize protocol and test the successful colonization of
   black Perigord truffle (Tuber Melanosporum) in the roots of
   native oak seedling after inoculation with truffle spores in the
   greenhouse condition during the first year.
2. to work out soil amendment and irrigation schedule for
   planting the seedling in the ground and monitor the presence of
   truffle micro in the roots during the second year.
3. to perform outreach to raise awareness of saving oak forest,
   to introduce a black truffle as a new local commodity among
   farmers, conservationists, chefs and consumers and educate
   students and next generation farmers about the sustainable
   agriculture practice.