With the diffusion of commercial apple varieties since the second half of the last century, hundreds of different local cultivars rapidly disappeared from orchards in Italy, and the particular quality attributes of these fruits are still at risk of being lost today. The aim of this research was to use sensory, nutritional and genetic techniques in order to define the overall quality of fruits from ancient apple cultivars grown in Northern Italy. Cluster analysis arranged the 10 genotypes into five groups; in most cases, the analyzed cultivars demonstrated higher sensory and nutritional qualities than the control (Golden Delicious cv). The cultivars showed higher values of total polyphenolic compounds and a stronger antioxidant activity. The vitamin C content also differed from the control. The sensory analysis, performed by the Fruit Tasters Italian Organization, was an effective characterization tool and genetic analysis further helped to characterize the identity of these interesting cultivars. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThe characterization and valorization of old apple cultivars are essential to avoid loss of potentially useful germplasm. The reduction of biodiversity of cultivars found in agriculture could lead to problems such as higher susceptibility to widespread outbreaks of plant diseases and pests, and at the same time, the loss of precious source of nutrients. The conservation of apple biodiversity is valuable in order to maintain the gene pool of the species and to introduce superior quality traits into apple-breeding programs.bs_bs_banner Journal of Food Quality

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Centuries of co-evolution between Castanea spp. biodiversity and human populations has resulted in the spread of rich and varied chestnut genetic diversity throughout most of the world, especially in mountainous and forested regions. Its plasticity and adaptability to different pedoclimates and the wide genetic variability of the species determined the spread of many different ecotypes and varieties in the wild. Throughout the centuries, man has used, selected and preserved these different genotypes, vegetatively propagating them by grafting, for many applications: fresh consumption, production of flour, animal nutrition, timber production, thereby actively contributing to the maintenance of the natural biodiversity of the species, and providing an excellent example of conservation horticulture.Nonetheless, currently the genetic variability of the species is critically endangered and hundreds of ecotypes and varieties are at risk of being lost due to a number of phytosanitary problems (canker blight, Chryphonectria parasitica; ink disease, Phytophthora spp.; gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus), and because of the many years of decline and abandonment of chestnut cultivation, which resulted in the loss of the binomial male chestnut. Recently, several research and experimentation programmes have attempted to develop strategies for the conservation of chestnut biodiversity. 3The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the status of biodiversity conservation of the species and to present the results of a 7 year project aimed at the individuation and study of genetic diversity and conservation of Castanea spp. germplasm.

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The European hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) is one of the most important nut crops. In this work we characterize functional microsatellite or simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for genetic analysis and molecular breeding in this species. A total of 38,454 Betulaceae EST sequences from NCBI resulted in 1,282 non-redundant EST-SSRs. Dinucleotide repeats were the most abundant (63.9%), followed by trinucleotides (33.8%). The putative functions of the non-redundant EST-SSRs were classified according to gene ontology (GO) categories (biological process, molecular function, and cellular component). A total of 921 sequences showed significant hits with the non-redundant protein database, and GO categories were assigned to 696 (75.5%) of them. Flanking primer pairs were designed for 78 di-and trinucleotide EST-SSRs from Alnus glutinosa L. ( 29), Betula pendula Roth (26), and Betula platyphylla Suckaczev (23).Further, 41 dinucleotide repeats selected from hazelnut transcriptome sequences were added. Thirty-six out 119 primer pairs generated amplification products in six hazelnut accessions and in the samples of the species from which they were isolated. Among them, 20 were polymorphic when tested on 18 hazelnut cultivars. Fifteen loci are suitable for mapping in a F1 population of 'Tonda Gentile delle Langhe' x 'Merveille de Bollwiller' and 11 of them were functionally annotated. The cross-species transferability of 36 EST-SSR loci within nine Corylus species was also performed. The success rate of markers transferability (including C. avellana) ranged from 11% to 100%, with an average of 55%. The EST-SSRs developed increase the number of markers currently available for hazelnut.