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The natural resources are currently overexploited and since 1992 the Conference of Rio de Janeiro has focused on sustainable development to safeguard our planet for future generations. The Fungi kingdom includes producers of goods and services for ecosystems and organisms widely used in the food industry. Besides, macrofungi are recognized as nontimber forest products and could be utilized as agents of environmental management through weed biocontrol and environmental improvement. Moreover, the cultivation of fungi, in particular truffles, can provide an important income in agroecosystems, especially in marginal areas, along with the development of new technologies to produce novel products from fungi. © 2013 Societá Botanica Italiana.

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.