What Are Chestnuts (Castanea sativa)?
Pitomi kesten (Castanea sativa Mill.) važna je, široko rasprostranjena, višestruko korisna vrsta drveća u mediteranskom području, od koje se koriste drvo, plodovi, med i tanin. Rak kestenove kore, uzrokovan introducirnom gljivom Cryphonectria parasitica, ugrožava opstanak sastojina pitomog kestena. Glavni cilj ovoga projekta je utvrditi:
(1) neutralnu i adaptivnu raznolikost u prirodnim populacijama pitomog kestena u Hrvatskoj iz okolišno različitih staništa;(2) povezanost genetičke strukture, morfološke raznolikosti, kemijske raznolikosti i okolišnih razlika (klimatskih i pedoloških) u prirodnim populacijama i kultivarima pitomog kestena;
(3) kvalitetu sjemena i zahtjeve za klijanje sjemena pitomog kestena;
(4) genetičku osnovu raznolikosti za adaptivna svojstva na sadnicama uzgojenima u stakleniku i u recipročno-transpantacijskim pokusima;
(5) epigenetičke odgovore na sušni stres;
(6) tolerantnost selekcioniranih genotipova na patogene;
(7) otpornost na patogene sadnica uzgojenih u rasadniku;
(8) povezanost između populacijsko-genetičkog pristupa i pokusa u stakleniku kao i recipročno-transplantacijskih pokusa;
(9) nastavak dugoročnog praćenja populacija C. parasitica;
(10) neutralnu i adaptivnu raznolikost hrvatskih kultivara pitomog kestena;
(11) razlike između hrvatskih kultivara pitomog kestena u morfologiji listova i plodova te kemijskom sastavu plodova;
(12) razgraničenje sjemenskih zona i izrada smjernica za prijenos sjemena za hrvatske populacije pitomog kestena.
Osim doprinosa osnovnim znanstvenim spoznajama o biologiji i ekološkim odnosima pitomog kestena, rezultati ovoga projekta doprinijet će održivom gospodarenju sastojinama pitomog kestena u Hrvatskoj. Rezultati će direktno doprinijeti zaštiti geografskog porijekla maruna, autohtonih hrvatskih kultivara pitomog kestena. Također će biti selekcionirani genotipovi tolerantni na sušni stres kao i oni s većom tolerancijom na biotski stres, odnosno infekciju gljivom Cryphonectria parasitica.
https://youtu.be/5xbyThtOcLM?si=ylt8WIBPfvF0FNTk
What Are Chestnuts (Castanea sativa)?
Chestnuts are the edible fruit of a deciduous tree that grows throughout the world. They can be eaten raw or cooked, with a mild flavor that makes them versatile for both sweet and savory dishes.
We want to know where there are healthy and unhealthy sweet chestnuts across Croatia to understand how far sweet chestnut blight and oriental chestnut gall wasps have spread since they were first reported. The information you provide will help us to produce an up-to-date map of healthy and unhealthy sweet chestnut trees and tell us whether our actions to control the spread of blight and gall wasps are working.
Chestnuts vs. Water Chestnuts
Some people wonder about the difference between chestnuts and water chestnuts, and they are completely different things. Unlike sweet chestnuts, which are the fruit of a tree, water chestnuts are part of the root structure of a grass-like plant, Eleocharis dulcis, that grows underwater in marshes. They're edible and popular in Chinese cuisine but can't be substituted for sweet chestnuts.
Chestnuts vs. Horse Chestnuts
There's also frequent confusion about the difference between sweet chestnuts and horse chestnuts. Horse chestnuts are the fruit of a different tree, Aesculus hippocastanum, sometimes called the horse chestnut or buckeye tree. These nuts are toxic. This isn't an issue if you purchase your chestnuts since horse chestnuts aren't cultivated or sold as food. But if you're foraging, note that horse chestnut husks are shiny and spiny, whereas sweet chestnuts grow in a husk that is covered in what looks like grassy, spiky hair or fur.
Long-term prospects
Sweet chestnut is native to southern Europe, western Asia, and North Africa. The first written records of them growing in Croatia date to the 12th century, and they have long been naturalized here. Today they can be found commonly throughout Croatia as urban trees, in parks, and in woodland.
Zeljko Serdar, CCRES
