Indigenous Knowledge of Desert Truffle Among Turkmen People Aman Mohammad Komaki Hossein Barani Abolfazl Sharifiyan Bahraman

Abstract

The indigenous knowledge arises from reality of human life and experiences on the earth, which indeed stems from ancestors. They may have got this knowledge from their living directly and gather it experimentally. So they are specific for one ecosystem. The desert truffles are from a group of edible mushrooms grow under the soil like tuber. Local people may find them in natural habitats in Iran and other different regions of Mediterranean climate. From old days these fungi are interesting and edible mushrooms for humankind. In recent years the tendency to these truffles has increased especially by many amateur groups and led them to grow those in orchards as a new activity. While there is an indigenous knowledge about them among local people, a little study is present about identification of different species of desert truffle in Iran. That is to say there are not significant scientific activities about these groups of fungi. Indigenous knowledge can be considered as a base of science. Actually the indigenous knowledge is full of many ideas and interesting case study and research should be done in this area. But the indigenous knowledge with its intrinsic talents progress through observing with the naked eye, without any instruments. The indigenous knowledge of desert truffles exactly separates the species of truffles and their special host plants. According to indigenous knowledge people could determine the location and time of growth of desert truffles. The indigenous knowledge understands the relation of evolution between desert truffle and their plant hosts. Today with research about the different aspects of fungi and symbiosis; especially with molecular methods, the scientists can understand the host specificity and evolution of truffles.

Keywords

• desert truffle fungus
• indigenous knowledge
• turkmen sahara
• helianthemum spp