Articles
Developing climate scenarios for maintenance of clonal germplasm of blueberries, cranberries, lingonberries, huckleberries, and their crop wild relatives
Article number
1440_13
Pages
93 – 98
Language
English
Abstract
The genus Vaccinium L. and its crop wild relatives in the Vaccinieae (Ericaceae) comprise a natural group of over 1,200 species with a worldwide distribution.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) in Corvallis, Oregon, maintains a clonal collection of Vaccinium crops and their wild relatives.
This collection is the most ecologically diverse germplasm of any crop type maintained in the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS). While the economically important crop types of Vaccinium occur in temperate and arctic/alpine regions, the great majority of species occur on tropical mountains with growth habits ranging from terrestrial trees and shrubs to epiphytes.
Species that occur at 1) high latitude, 2) high elevation, or 3) low latitude and high elevation are generally intolerant of high temperatures and variable in cold hardiness and dormancy requirements.
Maintaining this clonal germplasm requires specialized greenhouse environments to accommodate heat-intolerant and frost-tender accessions.
In this study, we present estimated heat tolerance and latitudinal distribution for 36 Vaccinium species from North America and Hawaii, using estimates of heat tolerance (number of days GROTERDAN30°C) from heat zone maps for the United States and Mexico.
Heat tolerance, cold hardiness, and dormancy requirements (chilling hours KLEINERDAN7°C) for these 36 species are used to define four climate scenarios to maintain Vaccinium and its crop wild relatives.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) in Corvallis, Oregon, maintains a clonal collection of Vaccinium crops and their wild relatives.
This collection is the most ecologically diverse germplasm of any crop type maintained in the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS). While the economically important crop types of Vaccinium occur in temperate and arctic/alpine regions, the great majority of species occur on tropical mountains with growth habits ranging from terrestrial trees and shrubs to epiphytes.
Species that occur at 1) high latitude, 2) high elevation, or 3) low latitude and high elevation are generally intolerant of high temperatures and variable in cold hardiness and dormancy requirements.
Maintaining this clonal germplasm requires specialized greenhouse environments to accommodate heat-intolerant and frost-tender accessions.
In this study, we present estimated heat tolerance and latitudinal distribution for 36 Vaccinium species from North America and Hawaii, using estimates of heat tolerance (number of days GROTERDAN30°C) from heat zone maps for the United States and Mexico.
Heat tolerance, cold hardiness, and dormancy requirements (chilling hours KLEINERDAN7°C) for these 36 species are used to define four climate scenarios to maintain Vaccinium and its crop wild relatives.
Publication
Authors
J.M. Oliphant, N.V. Bassil
Keywords
Vaccinium, clonal germplasm, cold hardiness, heat zone, heat tolerance
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