Dogs prove key to truffle harvest success, Stirling study finds

The behaviour of truffle-hunting dogs and their handlers plays a critical role in determining the quality and quantity of harvested truffles, a new study with potentially major economic implications has found.

Truffles are a high value crop whose collection, both in the wild and in truffle orchards, is dependent on scent-detection dogs, known as truffle dogs, to pinpoint their underground location.

Paul Thomas, Honorary Professor at the University of Stirling’s Faculty of Natural Sciences has reviewed the single largest dataset on truffle collection, examining the relationship between truffle dogs’ behaviour, the bias of their handlers and the resulting harvest.

The research highlights that small adjustments in dog training and handler methods could lead to a substantial increase in both the quality and quantity of truffles recovered.

The findings have the potential to generate significant and immediate economic benefits for the multi-million-pounds global truffle industry, which spans five continents.

The study, Hunting dog behaviour is a key driver impacting harvest quantity and quality of truffles involved analysis of 3,180 recovered truffles across 236 hunt events spanning eight truffle-producing woodlands in Greece over a five-month period.

The research, published in Nature’s Scientific Reports journal, also explored broader ecological data such as soil depth, climate conditions and truffle maturity, to analyse how key trends are linked and how truffle quality and quantity changes as the season progresses.

The study showed that deeper truffles tend to be more mature and more prone to damage from animal browsing – an insight that could be central to minimising waste in the future.

Notably, climate factors like temperature were not found to correlate with the size of truffle harvested, suggesting it is unlikely that truffle cultivators can influence the size of recovered truffles with measures such as increased irrigation.

Professor Thomas said: “Truffle dogs’ efficiency is an important part of the truffle harvest process that has largely been overlooked until now. Delving into this area for the first time, we can see tangible opportunities to improve methods and recover more truffles of a higher quality, which could yield immediate economic benefits and transform practices in the industry.

“Enhanced training for both the dogs and their handlers could instantly address key challenges found in the manual harvesting operation, improving efficiency, quality and economic impact.

“This research also underscores the importance of incorporating truffle dog behaviour into future scientific studies to continue improving techniques across this valuable industry.”

The work was conducted in collaboration with professional truffle hunters from The Real Truffle Hunters Ltd. and Professor David Kothamasi of the University of Delhi, while Professor Thomas’ time was covered by his own truffle production business, Mycorrhizal Systems Ltd.