Effect of water stress on in vitro mycelium cultures of two mycorrhizal desert truffles

The ability of two species of desert truffle, Terfezia claveryi strain TcS2 and Picoa lefebvrei strain OL2, to tolerate water stress in pure culture has been investigated. Both T. claveryi and P. lefebvrei strains exhibited a mycelium growth pattern characteristic of drought tolerant species. However, they were only tolerant to moderate water stress, below −1.07 MPa, with the P. lefebvrei isolate being slightly more drought tolerant than the T. claveryi isolate. The increased alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity observed in both fungi at moderate water stress with respect to the control indicated the functional adaptation of these mycelia to these drought conditions. ALP activity can be used as an indicator of the metabolic activity of these fungi. Slight water stress (−0.45 MPa) could improve mycelial inoculum production of these desert truffles. Moreover, P. lefebvrei could be a good candidate for further desert truffle mycorrhizal plant cultivation programmes in semiarid Mediterranean areas.