The future of chestnut breeding work in Turkey

Abstract

Anatolia contains large chestnut populations (Castanea sativa Mill.) and chestnut culture has been developed here since ancient times. Scientific studies have been done in Turkey for over 50 years. Early studies were conducted primarily on chestnut diseases e. g. ink disease (caused by Phytophthora cambivora) and chestnut blight disease (caused by Cryphonectria parasitica). Recently, selection studies were started for improving the cultivars. The main selection studies were conducted first in the Marmara Region and then in the Black Sea and Aegean Regions. Although many of the selected genotypes and local cultivars have shown high level of productivity and quality, they are susceptible to the chestnut blight. For this reason chestnut grooves have seriously suffered from this disease. Breeding work is needed to develop trees with resistance and to improve some of the quality parameters of the cultivars being grown. In this article the objects of the breeding work, the subjects of the improvements, and the methods which must be used for reaching the goals of the cultivar breeding in Turkey are discussed.