Effect of mulching on Tuber uncinatum ectomycorrhizas in an experimental truffiere

Abstract A study was conducted on the effects of different mulching materials on Tuber uncinatum (the Burgundy truffle) ectomycorrhizas in a 6‐year‐old experimental truffiere. The mulching materials were wheat straw, an aluminised cloth, a black mulching cloth, and a sub‐watering cloth. Three years after the start of the experiment the mulches significantly influenced the degree of ectomycorrhizal colonisation in the upper 0–15 cm of soil. The sub‐watering cloth stimulated T. uncinatum colonisation and depressed the development of the contaminant ectomycorrhizal fungi that were promoted by the black mulch. Both straw and the black mulch depressed T. uncinatum infection. The mulches appear to have had their effects on ectomycorrhizal colonisation via their impact on soil temperature and moisture.