In vitro conservation of centennial Austrian Cornelian cherry accessions

Abstract

Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) appears in a list of fruit and nut species growing in Europe considered neglected and underused economically. Although C. mas has a long-standing traditional medicinal use, only in recent years interest in products and food made from Cornelian cherries, said to have health-promoting effects, increased. This in turn raises the demand for improved planting material. In the Pielach Valley Region, Lower Austria, hundreds of centenary specimens of Cornus mas, but even a few millennial plants can still be encountered. The occurrence of these plants requested an active intervention to genetically characterize and preserve this valuable biodiversity, particularly in the light of changing environmental conditions. Efforts for the establishment of an in vitro collection of this valuable germplasm of centenary cornelian cherries yielded 193 mericlones initiated from single node explants from 41 selected plants. The selected donor plants were grouped by estimated age ranging from 10 years, > 50 years, > 100 years, > 200 years, > 400 years and 1000 years. The final goal of our efforts is to preserve these genetic resources, also checked for genetic and phytosanitary quality, for future generations and to use the superior clones for further breeding programs.

Genetic Evaluation of a Wildtype Population of Cornus mas Accessions in Austria

“…In 1960, Werneck [14] stated that C. mas is conspicuously neglected in botany as well as in horticulture, which has led to its inclusion in the list of neglected and underutilized species (NUS) [15][16][17].…”

“…Presently, the largest area of diversity of C. mas is in Lower Austria at the northern edge of the Flysch zone from Klosterneuburg to Amstetten and at the eastern edge of the Vienna basin; here, accessions with black-purple, red, yellow, and white fruits can be found [8,14]. In the Lower Austrian valleys of Pielach, Gölsen, and Triesting, Cornelian cherries, popularly named "Dirndl", are spread in hills, open pastures, and meadows [8,16]. In the region, known as the "Cornelian cherry valley" (Dirndltal in German), active intervention to preserve and characterize the biodiversity of C. mas is being implemented [16,21] as changing climatic conditions have a considerable impact on wild-growing plants.…”

“…In the Lower Austrian valleys of Pielach, Gölsen, and Triesting, Cornelian cherries, popularly named "Dirndl", are spread in hills, open pastures, and meadows [8,16]. In the region, known as the "Cornelian cherry valley" (Dirndltal in German), active intervention to preserve and characterize the biodiversity of C. mas is being implemented [16,21] as changing climatic conditions have a considerable impact on wild-growing plants.…”

“…The selection and acceptance of the Cornelian cherry as an important healthy functional food [15,[21][22][23] have been approached by establishing an in vitro collection of valuable germplasms of centenary Cornelian cherries [16], in parallel to a thematic garden as ex situ collection (https://info.bml.gv.at, accessed on 28 August 2023). In addition, the phenotypic characterization of a wildtype population of C. mas was carried out on fruits to evaluate their nutritional values [21,24].…”

Phenotypic Characterization of a Wild-Type Population of Cornelian Cherries (Cornus mas L.) from Austria

“…Based on the results in the present study, the observed accessions could be categorized as a representative natural population of Cornus mas in Lower Austria with a diverse morphological characteristic and a valuable source of K bioactive compounds; this is the first time that a phenotypic profile of Austrian Cornelian cherry fruits has been accomplished. As a result, a representative number of the accessions analysed were selected (Laimer et al 2021) for the first in vitro Cornelian cherry germplasm collection in Austria due to its importance for the conservation of natural populations as well as for future breeding programmes.…”