L'identità genetica delle cultivar di castagno nella Regione Campania: il progetto CASTARRAY

European chestnut (Castanea sativa) forms agroecosystems of extreme importance for safeguarding territory of Campania Region, where about half of Italian chestnuts are produced. In spite of this, damages principally inflicted by the chestnut gall wasp have endangered the biodiversity of local varieties. Growers propagate chestnuts by grafting and typically identify cultivars by using morphological traits, which can depend on environmental factors. In Campania, genetic investigations on chestnut genotypes are scanty and the DNA-based molecular tools for cultivar identification are not readily exploitable by stakeholders. For this reason, the project CASTARRAY was implemented to identify chestnut cultivars by new tools for DNA profiling and transfer this know-how to chestnut chain. The results of the project could guarantee new implants and improve exploitation and breeding of chestnut germplasm.