CONSERVATION AND BREEDING OF WILD FRUIT TREE SPECIES IN FORESTRY

In the forests of Germany, 7 wild fruit tree species of the genera Malus, Prunus, Pyrus and Sorbus occur naturally, 3 species of the genera Castanea and Juglans were introduced from southern Europe and North America. Today, the occurrence of the indigenous wild fruit tree species is restricted to natural populations of limited size in the case of Prunus avium and Sorbus aucuparia. The other species can be found only in small groups of very few trees or as single trees. The wild forms of Malus sylvestris and Pyrus pyraster are endangered to a large extent by several reasons. The identification of individuals, groups or stands of wild fruit tree species in the forests is the first step for the preservation and promotion of these species in situ and the collection of basic material to be used for gene conservation activities ex situ as well as breeding purposes. Based on the in situ and ex situ measures taken by the relevant federal and state institutions for forest genetics and tree breeding, an overview is given on the activities for the genetic characterization and breeding of several wild fruit tree species in Germany.