Pedologic characteristics and fungi community in unmanaged cork oak forest soil of two Mediterranean regions: Sardinia and Tunisia

Maria Daria Fumi1, Valeria Mazzoleni1, Elisa Novelli1, Roberta Galli1, Matteo Busconi2, Mohamed Blaghen3 Abdennaceur Hassen4, Andrew Hursthouse5, Iain McLellan5, Agostino Pintus6, Pino Angelo Ruiu6, Cristina Silva Pereira7, Adélia Varela7
1Istituto di Enologia I.A.A., and 2Istituto di Botanica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29100 Piacenza, Italy; 3Faculty of Science, University Hassan II - Aïn Chock, Casablanca, Morocco; 4Centre Recherche Science Technolgies de l’Eau, Solimnen, Tunisia; 5University of West of Scotland, PAI 2BE Paisley, UK; 6AGRIS Sardegna, 0702 Tempio Pausania, Italy; 7I.B.E.T., 2781-901 Oeiras, Portugal

Abstract: The soil of unmanaged cork oak forests located both in Sardinia and in Tunisia was characterized. Soil samples were collected in both areas at the depth of 0-10 cm, to determine the pedologic characteristics [humidity, pH, total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (N) and texture] and the fungi community. The data were tested for significance with analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques. The soils of the two studied areas were significantly different as far as pH, TOC % and Sand content are concerned. The texture of Sardinia soil was mainly classified as “sandy-loam” and the Tunisian ones as “sandy-clay-loam”. Concerning the fungi community in Sardinia soil, the most frequent fungi genera were Trichoderma, Penicillium and Paecilomyces. In Tunisian soil the dominant genus was Penicillium followed by the genus Aspergillus.

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