Development of a regeneration protocol for chestnut Italian cultivar ‘Marrone di Zocca’

Among the different Italian cultivars, Castanea sativa Mill. ‘Marrone di Zocca’ is remarkable for its high quality of nuts intended for the fresh market and industry transformation. Sweet chestnut shows a particular susceptibility to several diseases determining a reduction in the cultivated area and a loss of production. To make this crop competitive again, it is essential to increase the investments to close the gap with the most important fruit crops. The possibility of obtaining regenerated material and subsequently the development and efficacy of in vitro regeneration protocol from somatic tissues could allow the application of new breeding techniques (NBTs), reducing the time needed to obtain genetically improved and pathogen-free clones in a recalcitrant species such as chestnut. This study evaluates the capability to induce the organogenesis process in C. sativa cultivar ‘Marrone di Zocca’ started from somatic mature tissues. Leaf explants from micropropagated shoots have been tested on various culture media differing for the type of salts and different formulations of hormones. The obtained regenerations, which show high proliferation rates once transferred to a suitable medium, will be further assessed for their micropropagation adaptability and the possibility of increased rooting rates, useful to overcome one of the major bottlenecks of chestnut micropropagation.