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Chestnuts (Castanea sp.) belong to the family Fagaceae, comprising more than 900 species of trees and shrubs. The family Fagaceae is dominated by temperate forest trees like oaks (Quercus spp.) and beeches (Fagus sp.), which are found mainly in the Northern Hemisphere countries of the world (Manos et al. 2008). From time to time coevolution among different Castanea sp. and biodiversity found among these species have ensued the extent of these opulent and diverse Castanea sp. to spread all over the world, particularly in high altitude areas. The elasticity and adaptability of various chestnut species to different agro-climates and the extensive genetic base of these species determined the range of various ecotypes in the wild. During the course of many decades, human population has selected, maintained, and utilized these diverse genotypes for many uses, such as garden-fresh consumption, production of flour, timber production, and physical nourishment, thus promisingly making contribution towards the preservation of natural biodiversity of these species and giving an outstanding model for horticultural crop conservation. However, presently the genomic diversity of the species is in danger of extinction and huge number of cultivars are liable of being vanished as a result of various phytosanitary issues like Pseudomonas syringae causing canker blight, Phytophthora palmivora causing ink disease, gall wasp, Cryphonectria parasitica, Phytophthora spp., and Dryocosmus kuriphilus. These issues have resulted in the decline and desertion of chestnut cultivation and loss of male chestnut as well. In recent times, numerous research programs have strived to improve policies for the preservation of Castanea sp. biodiversity. The main goal of this chapter is to present the research studies on genomic variability and preservation of Castanea sp. germplasm to pave way for conservation and development of resilient chestnut varieties. |
