Japanese researchers have successfully cultivated black truffles artificially for the second time, marking a significant step in efforts to develop stable growing methods.
The Yamanashi Forest Research Institute, in collaboration with the Forestry and Forest Product Research Institute based in the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, announced the cultivation on Nov. 1.
While black truffles do grow naturally in Japan, cultivation methods are still underdeveloped, prompting ongoing research. At present, Japan’s domestic market relies entirely on imports.
In 2018, the two organizations attached spores of Tuber himalayense, an Asian variety of black truffle, to 55 chestnut saplings and planted them at two test sites in Yamanashi Prefecture to explore artificial cultivation.
This September, six years after planting, the researchers successfully cultivated 12 black truffles totaling 200 grams.
The achievement follows the first breakthrough announced last December by the Gifu Prefectural Research Institute for Forests and the Forestry and Forest Product Research Institute in Tsukuba.
Truffles, like matsutake mushrooms, are mycorrhizal fungi that form symbiotic relationships with the roots of living trees. Unlike mushrooms, they cannot be grown on mushroom beds, making artificial cultivation particularly challenging, according to the Tsukuba-based research institute.
Moving forward, the team plans to confirm the reproducibility of their cultivation process, refine infection techniques and explore optimal conditions for truffle growth to stabilize production.
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