OLD AUTOCHTHONOUS ITALIAN FRUIT CULTIVARS, A SOURCE OF INTERESTING GENETIC TRAITS FOR BREEDING

In the last two decades, following the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) suggestions, much work has been undertaken in Italy to recover old autochthonous fruit cultivars, most of them not commercially grown any more and often only present as few trees, particularly in small family orchards. The analysis of a rich literature concerning the main stone fruits (apricot, sweet cherry, peach and nectarine, European plum and almond) and the main pome fruits (apple and pear) revealed the presence of nearly 4400 accessions. By far the most numerous species is apple, followed by pear, sweet cherry and peach and nectarine, while the less frequent ones are almond, apricot and European plum. Activities of recovery and evaluation are being carried out in all Italian regions, but most contributions are recorded from the northern and southern regions, followed by central Italy. Resistance or tolerance to biotic stresses caused by fungi, bacteria, viruses and phytoplasma are the most frequent traits singled out in all species; other important characteristics concern tree biology and fruit quality, such as self-compatibility, low chilling requirement, late blooming, very early and very late ripening, easy separation of the cherry fruit from the stalk, and red flesh for the high antioxidants content. Several old autochthonous cultivars carrying some of these traits have already been successfully used for breeding in the past, such as self-fertility in almond and fruit harvested without stalk in sweet cherry. Other traits currently utilized in breeding programmes in Italy are: horizontal resistance to Venturia inaequalis (apple), to Taphrina deformans (peach), to Erwinia amylovora and Cacopsilla pyri (pear), low chilling requirement (sweet cherry) and resistance to Plum pox virus (PPV) (apricot).