Germplasm Development of Underutilized Temperate U.S. Tree Crops

Ronald Revord, Sarah Lovell, Thomas Molnar, Kevin J. Wolz and Chloé Mattia
Additional contact information
Ronald Revord: Department of Crop Sciences, Institute of Sustainability, Energy, and Environment, Plant Sciences Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1201 S. Dorner Drive, Urbana, IL 61820, USA
Sarah Lovell: Department of Crop Sciences, Institute of Sustainability, Energy, and Environment, Plant Sciences Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1201 S. Dorner Drive, Urbana, IL 61820, USA
Thomas Molnar: Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Foran Hall, 59 Dudley Road, Rutgers, University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
Kevin J. Wolz: Savanna Institute, 1360 Regent Street #124, Madison, WI 53715, USA
Chloé Mattia: Department of Crop Sciences, Institute of Sustainability, Energy, and Environment, Plant Sciences Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1201 S. Dorner Drive, Urbana, IL 61820, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: In the Midwest U.S. dominated corn-soybean landscape, agroforestry systems can be particularly valuable for increasing the provisioning and regulatory capacity of the agricultural landscape. However, these systems have not yet been broadly integrated into the landscape of this region since they are mostly relegated to marginal lands. A growing body of literature suggests a path to increase the adoption of agroforestry in the Midwest U.S. lies in the incorporation of low-input food-producing tree species that provide economic incentives for farmers. Studies of the system-level integration of such approaches have proceeded by using the currently available cultivars and breeding selections of various tree nut and fruit species. While existing varieties and breeding selections provide the opportunity for initial system development and integration, their broad adaptability to the Midwest U.S. and its marginal land-types is unexplored. Thus, a second tier of research includes the genetic improvement and adaptation of tree crop selections to their respective target environments throughout the Midwest U.S. Fortunately, select tree crops of interest are amendable to systematic breeding and have wild relatives that are endemic across the region. In this paper, we discuss the value of these wild relatives for broadening the adaption of cultivated tree crop selections by using the hazelnut as an example species. We present a framework using geospatial tools to define and prioritize target environments for breeding and, in turn, exploiting wild relative germplasm.

Keywords: tree breeding; local adaptations; wild relatives; Corylus americana; hazelnut; agroforestry; marginal land (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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