Investigation of Ecological Characteristics Favouring Truffle Production and Transfer for Marketing and Cultivation

Earlier work by Dr. Hugo Germain led to the detection of truffles in the parterre québécois. At the same time, Dr. Véronique Cloutier's PhD project at Université Laval has made it possible to harvest wild truffles in Quebec's boreal forest. Germain and Cloutier are joining forces to pool the results of their studies to enable re-analysis and increased statistical power, and to help determine the ecological conditions conducive to truffle development. Drs. Maire and Rodriguez, respectively experts in the functional strategies of plant and microbial species, and in community assembly (Maire) and qualitative ecology (Rodriguez), will be heavily involved.

A field validation will then be carried out to determine the presence of fruiting bodies. At the same time, a canine cohort will be trained to detect truffles on our terroir. Following validation, the ecological references will be used as guides to encourage agronomic cultivation in agroforestry and agricultural environments.