Portuguese Castanea sativa Genetic Resources: Characterization, Productive Challenges and Breeding Efforts

Abstract

Chestnuts are multipurpose trees that grow mainly in the Northern Hemisphere due to their aptitude for fruit and wood production. These trees are vastly significant for the economy and wildlife. The widespread distribution of these trees demonstrates their genetic adaptability to many environmental conditions. The main varieties of European chestnut (Castanea sativa Miller) cultivated in Portugal, their productive challenges and breeding and biotechnological efforts developed over the last decades are described. This paper highlights the efforts focused on the improvement of varieties and rootstocks through selection and hybridization of European chestnut with the Asian species Castanea crenata Siebold and Zuccarini and Castanea mollissima Blume, which are resistant to ink disease, which have been the foundation of the Portuguese chestnut breeding programs. Breeding and biotechnological efforts developed over the last decades, focused on ink disease and chestnut blight resistance, are described. The potentialities of this research to stimulate the competitiveness of bioeconomy-based knowledge and innovation in the productive chestnut sector is also discussed.

Germplasm Resources Exploration and Genetic Breeding of Crops

“…The Special Issue "Germplasm Resources Exploration and Genetic Breeding of Crops" was planned to cover all aspects of the characterization of crop genetic resources and their applications in breeding, as well as genetics research and molecular breeding, including gene/QTL detection or gene functional analysis in crops. In our Special Issue, we have united 16 papers addressing various aspects around the topic of plant genetic resources, including quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping/gene discovery [2,3], genetic diversity/variation [4][5][6][7][8][9], breeding products [9][10][11][12][13], and genetic resource profiles for crops [14][15][16].…”

“…Three review articles in this Special Issue offer insights into the wealth of genetic resources for wheat/oats [15], chestnuts [16], and tobacco [17]. All three articles point out the significance of these plant materials to breeding for disease resistance and that the potential of the wild relatives can only be fully used when coupled with genomics-assisted breeding.…”

Niche modelling suggests low feasibility of assisted gene flow for a Neogene relict tree, Castanea sativa Mill.

“…1; Conedera et al, 2004;Freitas et al, 2022;Aglietti et al, 2022). It is an iconic tree species in the Mediterranean countries, a pillar of their agroforestry (Freitas et al, 2021;Braga et al, 2023) and vital biocultural element of the region (Pollegioni et al, 2020). Being the Neogene relict, sweet chestnut contributes importantly to the natural evolutionary heritage of the European and West Asiatic flora.…”