Present and future of chestnut production in Turkey

Turkey is one of the origin centers of Castanea sativa Mill. According to FAO’s production numbers, in 2021, Turkey is in third place with 77792 tones. There are seven regions in Turkey, but only three of them have chestnut orchards or forests. However, production characteristics between these regions are different. The orchards are mainly established with grafted plants in the Aegean and Marmara regions. On the other hand, in the Black Sea region, nearly all the production areas are in the forests. They mostly collect fallen nuts from the ground during the harvest season. In this region, farmers generally have seedling trees. However, some farmers prefer grafted plants for establishing new orchards. The popularity of the cultivars in Turkey was changed according to pests and diseases. At the beginning of the 1990s, the most popular cultivars were ‘Osmanoğlu’, ‘Sarıaşlama’, etc. After the spread of the Asian chestnut gall wasp in Turkey, ‘Bouche de Betizac’ became the most popular cultivar. Also, breeding studies were focused on obtaining resistant cultivars to the Asian chestnut gall wasp. This paper discusses the chestnut production of Turkey, how chestnut forests and orchards were maintained, the main problems, new cultivars, and the latest studies. Future trends in Turkey are also emphasized.