Conserving Mississippi origin American Chestnut genotypes - Initial results with a modified nut -grafting method,

Abstract

Often considered the greatest ecological disaster in North America, the loss of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata) to chestnut blight (caused by Cryphonectria parasitica) greatly impacted the Appalachian forests along with local and regional economies (Clark et al. 2019, 2023). Thanks to tree breeding efforts made by various entities; blight-resistant seedlings are anticipated to become widely available in the next few years. However, before reintroduction to the forest, it is necessary to develop and produce both resistant and locally adapted seedlings. Fortunately, coppice regenerating stumps in the wild provide an opportunity to preserve local genotypes by establishing germplasm conservation orchards through clonal propagation. In addition, it is expected that American chestnut genotypes that evolved in the most southwestern area of the species’ range (i.e., northeast Mississippi) will prove to be valuable sources of germplasm for breeding trees that are adapted to warmer environments. In the last couple of years, the Southern Research Station (SRS) has made substantial progress in developing a modified nut-grafting technique that is resulting in the conservation of rare American chestnut genotypes located in natural forests in Mississippi and adjacent Alabama.

Citation

Burdine, Charles S.; Parker, Chance K.; Nance, Warren L.; Galeano, Esteban; Nelson, C. Dana. 2023. Conserving Mississippi origin American Chestnut genotypes - Initial results with a modified nut -grafting method, In: Proc. 37th South. Forest Tree Improvement Conf., June 20-23, 2023, Knoxville, TN, pp. 28-30, https://sftic.org.