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By Bill Adamsen Director of The American Chestnut Foundation President, CT Chapter TACF Wilton, CT |
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With the rush of autumn harvest over, The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF®) and its Chapters finally get the opportunity to review our progress. It was just five growing seasons ago that the CT Chapter TACF® planted its first back-cross orchards (April 2006). We now have seven orchards and have planted almost three thousand trees - a huge milestone for a volunteer run organization.
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Table 1. CT Program Overview * [click for larger image] |
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Summary Tables The purpose of this report is to provide supporters, members. other constituents, and especially Members of the Board of Directors an update on CT Chapter operations. As you read through and look at the tables and graphs please note that much of this was done through the efforts of volunteers and members much like yourself. Much was facilitated by the unwavering support of a wide range of donors. If you've been a part of this success, as a volunteer, member, or donor, please accept the organization's enduring gratitude. Have questions or want to get involved? Please reach out to me directly to start a conversation. And of course we always look forward to meeting new supporters and participants who are interested in returning Chestnut to a position of ecological importance in the forests of CT. |
| Table 2 details the various types of trees planted in the research orchards and summarizes that data. Two of the types would be F1 (Chinese/American hybrid) or American chestnut. These are planted to serve as controls for resistance inoculation. In inoculation, trees of a size achieved after about four to five years of growth are inoculated with a blight inoculum of known virulence. The trees inoculated represent a continuum of expected resistance to the blight from strong - Chinese, F1 Hybrid, Back-cross, and American - to weak. By inoculating at the same time, this breadth of resistance facilitates evaluating which of the back-cross trees are most resistant, and to what degree. Table 2 shows the different types planted in each orchard, by year and then summarizes by type, year and also orchard. | Table 2. CT Program Summary * [click for larger image] |
| Table 3 details the back-cross lines planted in TACF® CT Orchards. Any resistant trees available for future planting would be bred from progeny of our back-cross orchards. The goal of the TACF® regional diversity program is to plant twenty lines - each line representing the capturing of genes of a local validated American chestnut through pollination of a local mother tree. Table 3 does not show the lines captured through breeding in 2010, only the trees that have grown from lines planted through 2010. So the trees shown as planted in 2010 were pollinated no later than 2009, and those nuts gained from 2010 pollination will likely be planted in spring 2011. | Table 3. CT Back-cross Trees * [click for larger image] |
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