Biodiversity of Chestnut Germplasm (Castanea sativa Mill.) Grown in North-West Italy

Chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) is a multipurpose species widely spread in Europe. Italy is the main European producer and Piedmont (North-West Italy) hosts a reach chestnut germplasm, including minor, often endangered, varieties. Within the EU project MANCHEST most of this germplasm was evaluated and described by DNA, chemical and sensory analyses. A current project funded by the Piedmont Region administration is aimed at using and developing statistical tools, such as PCO, discriminant analysis and neural networks, able to classify and characterize the chestnut biodiversity. DNA from 88 chestnut individual was amplified at 10 SSR loci and then analysed by ABI-Prism 377 sequencer using the Genescan system (Applied Biosystems). Chemical and sensory analyses were performed on a selected number of cultivars chosen on the basis of the results of DNA analysis that identified 42 genotypes. The chemical analysis indicated starch and sugars as the most abundant compounds, followed by total dietary fiber; fat and protein were present in lower amount. Sensory analysis allowed the selection of a group of cultivars and clones particularly appreciated for their taste and aroma. The present work confirmed the aptitude of the cultivars for different uses and underlined the importance of traits such as size, ease of skin removal and absence of epysperm intrusions on product acceptance. Although environmental factors were a significant cause of variability, the use of appropriate statistical methods could greatly enhance the discriminative capacity of studied variables.