Early frost reactions of different populations of hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.)

Abstract

In Germany, planting of trees and shrubs in an open landscape is regulated by law (Federal Nature Conservation Act §40) because of supposed genetic differences and regional adaptations to habitat conditions (mainly climatic and soil). Therefore, for trees and shrubs to be planted in the open landscape, Germany is divided into six officially designated regions of origin, often referred to as provenances. Propagation and use of plants must be carried out according to these provenances. To evaluate whether plants from different populations differ in their physiological and biochemical reactions, two years old cuttings of Corylus avellana from four populations with different climatic and soil conditions were evaluated in an early frost experiment under controlled conditions. Relative electrolyte leakage as a measure of damage due to frost increased with decreasing temperatures. Selected biomarkers (glucose, fructose, sucrose, starch and proline) were used to assess biochemical reactions of these populations. Increases due to frost were small and in most cases reflected the ranking of the unstressed plants of the populations. Only few statistical differences were found. There were no clear, consistent trends in spite of varied climatic conditions and geographical distance between the populations. Plants from all populations survived frost until -27°C. Hence there are no severe risks in populations' transfer within these latitude and altitude margins with regards to early frost.

Monitoring of plant–environment interactions by high‐throughput FTIR spectroscopy of pollen

“…Due to different adaptations to cold and warm weather, it can be expected that early pollinating species have larger variations in pollen composition between populations than late pollinators such as F. sylvatica and Q. robur . Germany has several wild populations of C. avellana (Wanjiku & Bohne ), and it is highly probable that the plants growing in the Berlin botanical garden originate from different wild populations or cultivars. The Norwegian plants belong to the same cultivar, C. avellana ‘Aurea’, thus explaining more uniform phenology and pollen chemical composition.…”

Root temperature regulated frost damage in leaves of the grapevineVitis viniferaL.

“…Frost is a cold‐snap event that usually occurs at night during the growing season, such as late spring (Chen , Matzneller et al ) or early autumn (Wanjiku and Bohne , Lazdiņa et al ). Though infrequent, frost has considerable implications for plants, especially in terms of its destruction of vegetative or reproductive structures (Lenz et al , Vitasse et al ).…”