The invention provides the use of an innovative non-woven fabric, for the mycorrhization of plants with truffles. The material is completely biodegradable and it gives an abundant and uniform mycorrhization, both with sporal and mycelial inoculation.
| Patent title | Use of non-woven fabric including polylactic acid (PLA) for the inoculation of plants to be mycorrhized, especially for truffle cultivation |
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| Thematic area | Bioeconomy, Agriculture and Environment |
| Ownership | ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA' DI BOLOGNA |
| Inventors | Pamela Leonardi, Federico Puliga, Alessandra Zambonelli |
| Protection | Italy, with the possibility to extend internationally |
| Licensing status | Available for development agreements, option, license and other exploitation agreements |
| Keywords | Non-woven fabric, truffle, inoculation, mycelium, mycorrhizas |
| Filed on | 09 September 2021 |
Modern truffle farming is based on the planting of mycorrhizal plants in the nursery with truffles. In order to succeed, the cultivation should be based on excellent quality of mycorrhizal plants, i.e. colonized extensively with truffles and free of contaminants. For this reason, the cultivation needs to standardize and improve the production of mycorrhizal plants with truffles.
The invention couples a PLA non-woven fabric with a method effective in truffle farming, in order to obtain plants that are more extensively and uniformly mycorrhized than the current techniques (use of vermiculite or other inert materials as a support for the mycelium).
The non-woven fabric is able to retain the mycelium between its meshes, allowing a more effective transfer of the fungus to the plant. Furthermore, the times of obtaining the mycorrhizae through mycelial inoculation are considerably reduced.
The main application is truffle cultivation.
The advantages are:
- Total degradation of non-woven fabric after 6 months.
- Greater and more uniform degree of mycorrhization.
- Possibility of standardizing the production process, reducing costs and materials compared to the current sporal inoculation techniques used by nurseries.