Genetic Characterization of Chestnut Accessions from ‘Centro Regionale di Castanicoltura’ (Cuneo, Italy)

The Dipartimento di Colture Arboree at Torino, with the financial support of three public partners (Regione Piemonte, Ente Gestione Parchi e Riserve Cuneesi, and Comunità Montana ‘Valli Gesso, Vermengna e Pesio’), established in 2005 the ‘Centro Regionale di Castanicoltura’ located in Chiusa Pesio (Cuneo province, northwestern Italy). A germplasm collection field of chestnut genetic diversity was realized. It includes the main local and national cultivars, together with several European varieties from Portugal, Spain, France, and Switzerland and accessions from U.S.A., China, and Japan. A set of 7 SSR loci was used to fingerprint 36 accessions, in order to start the genetic characterization of all plants in collection. The results obtained showed that microsatellite loci detected considerable polymorphism and thus particularly suitable for DNA-typing of chestnut cultivars. Genetic relationships among the accessions were investigated by UPGMA cluster analysis.