Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Ahead of Print
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • All Issues
  • Contribute
    • Submit to AUF
    • Author Guidelines
    • Reviewer Guidelines
  • About
    • Overview
    • Editorial Board
    • Journal Metrics
    • International Society of Arboriculture
  • More
    • Contact
    • Feedback
  • Alerts

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Arboriculture & Urban Forestry
Arboriculture & Urban Forestry

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Ahead of Print
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • All Issues
  • Contribute
    • Submit to AUF
    • Author Guidelines
    • Reviewer Guidelines
  • About
    • Overview
    • Editorial Board
    • Journal Metrics
    • International Society of Arboriculture
  • More
    • Contact
    • Feedback
  • Alerts
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Research ArticleArticles

High Level of Chestnut Blight Control on Grafted American Chestnut Trees Inoculated with Hypovirulent Strains

Tom Dierauf, Joel Artman, John R. Elkins, S. Lucille Griffin and Gary J. Griffin
Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF) March 1997, 23 (2) 87-88; DOI: https://doi.org/10.48044/joa.1997.23.2.87
Tom Dierauf
Virginia Department of Forestry, Charlottesville, VA 22903-0758
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
Joel Artman
Virginia Department of Forestry, Charlottesville, VA 22903-0758
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
John R. Elkins
Department of Chemistry, Concord College, Athens, WV 24712
American Chestnut Cooperators’ Foundation, Newport, VA 24128
Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA 24061-0331
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
S. Lucille Griffin
Department of Chemistry, Concord College, Athens, WV 24712
American Chestnut Cooperators’ Foundation, Newport, VA 24128
Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA 24061-0331
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
Gary J. Griffin
Department of Chemistry, Concord College, Athens, WV 24712
American Chestnut Cooperators’ Foundation, Newport, VA 24128
Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA 24061-0331
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF
Loading

The American chestnut [Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Bork.] was greatly valued as a landscape and forest tree in the eastern United States until the chestnut blight fungus [Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr] killed all but a few trees during the first half of this century. Some of the large American chestnuts that survived the blight epidemic have been found to have low levels of blight resistance (2). These trees typically have had several to many limbs killed by blight. Most of these surviving trees were found to be infected by virulent (killing) strains of the blight fungus and also by strains of the chestnut blight fungus that had low virulence (hypovirulence) (2). Biological control of chestnut blight with hypovirulence has potential (3). In general, however, a high level and longterm control of chestnut blight using hyporvirulence (inoculation of cankers with hypovirulent strains) has not been successful in the eastern United States. The present investigation was undertaken to document a high level of chestnut blight control on grafted American chestnut trees, derived from large survivors, which had been inoculated with hypovirulent strains 13-14 years earlier.

Materials and Methods

In May 1980, three American chestnut grafts (TG, RM and TH) were established on three American chestnut rootstocks in an American chestnut plantation at the Lesesne State Forest, Virginia. Large, surviving American chestnut trees [>25 cm diameter breast height (dbh)] growing in Virginia were used as a source of scions. Usually, two scions from each large, surviving American chestnut tree (TG, RM or TH) were bark-grafted into a single rootstock. Natural blight cankers were present on the main stems of the grafts when they were 2 and 3 years old in 1982 and 1983. These cankers were inoculated with a mixture of European and American hypovirulent C. parasitica strains (EP4, EP43, EP47, EP49, EP51, EP60, EP88, EP92, EP171 and EP172) received from J. E. Elliston at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. The cork-borer method of inoculation (3) was used to inoculate blight cankers with the hypovirulent strains.

A survey of blight on 100 seedling sprout clusters in the chestnut plantation, adjacent to the grafts, was conducted to document the incidence and severity of chestnut blight at this location. The severity of blight and characters of tree health, such as the height, dbh, and visual estimate of percent live crown, were determined for the three grafted chestnut trees. Cankers were rated for severity according to four canker types in decreasing severity of disease: a) sunken, often with exposed wood, b) irregularly swollen and sunken, c) callused and swollen and d) superficial and swollen. Thickness of healthy and necrotic bark in cankers was determined with micro-core (1.7 mm diameter) samples of bark tissue and a ruler.

Results

The survey of 100 American chestnut sprout clusters showed that 100% had chestnut blight, 100% had one or more stems killed by sunken cankers, and for 95% of the sprout clusters, the largest stem had been killed by blight. Active blight cankers with stromata (fungus sporulation structures) were frequent. Low blight severity and a high level of health for the chestnut grafts are indicated in Table 1.

View this table:
Table 1.

Characters of blight severity and tree health for three 16-year-old grafted American chestnut trees inoculated with a mixture of hypovirulent strains of Cryphonectria parasitica 13-14 years earlier.

Discussion

The chestnut blight survey indicated that virulent inoculum and chestnut stem death were widespread adjacent to the chestnut grafts at the Lesesne State Forest. The evaluations reported here indicate that a high level and a long period of chestnut blight control were obtained following inoculation of natural blight cankers on the chestnut grafts with a mixture of hypovirulent strains. A high level of blight control is indicated by few blight-killed branches and a large percentage of cankers that were rated as superficial. Further, the swollen, superficial cankers on the three grafts are the most superficial (high ratio of non-necrotic to necrotic tissue) observed during a 20-year period of core sampling of superficial cankers on American chestnut (G. J. Griffin, unpublished).

Some chestnut blight control (abnormal cankers and more live stems per chestnut sprout clump) has been observed 9 years after inoculation of forest American chestnuts with hypovirulent stains (1), but we know of no published reports documenting a high level and long period of blight control, following inoculation with hypovirulent strains, in the natural range of American chestnut.

Although no data are available, we observed an apparent high level of chestnut blight control in Connecticut for orchard American chestnut trees inoculated with a mixture of hypovirulent strains (G. J. Griffin visit to Lockwood Farm with J. E. Elliston). Research is in progress to evaluate factors that may be contributing to the high level of blight control exhibited by these grafted chestnut trees.

Acknowledgment

We thank R. Jay Stipes for reviewing the manuscript.

  • © 1997, International Society of Arboriculture. All rights reserved.

Literature Cited

  1. 1.↵
    1. Anagnostakís, S.L.
    1990. Improved chestnut tree condition maintained in two Connecticut plots after treatments with hypovirulent strains of the chestnut blight fungus. For. Sci. 36:113–124.
    OpenUrl
  2. 2.↵
    1. Griffin, G.J.,
    2. F.V. Hebard,
    3. R. Wendt, and
    4. J.R. Elkins
    . 1983. Survival of American chestnut trees: evaluation of blight resistance and virulence in Endothia parasitica. Phytopathology. 73:1084–1092.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  3. 3.↵
    1. Jaynes, R.A. and
    2. J.E. Elliston
    . 1980. Pathogenicity and canker control by mixtures of hypovirulent strains of Endothia parasitica in American chestnut. Phytopathology. 70:453–456.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF)
Vol. 23, Issue 2
March 1997
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Arboriculture & Urban Forestry.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
High Level of Chestnut Blight Control on Grafted American Chestnut Trees Inoculated with Hypovirulent Strains
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Arboriculture & Urban Forestry
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Arboriculture & Urban Forestry web site.
Citation Tools
High Level of Chestnut Blight Control on Grafted American Chestnut Trees Inoculated with Hypovirulent Strains
Tom Dierauf, Joel Artman, John R. Elkins, S. Lucille Griffin, Gary J. Griffin
Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF) Mar 1997, 23 (2) 87-88; DOI: 10.48044/joa.1997.23.2.87

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
High Level of Chestnut Blight Control on Grafted American Chestnut Trees Inoculated with Hypovirulent Strains
Tom Dierauf, Joel Artman, John R. Elkins, S. Lucille Griffin, Gary J. Griffin
Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF) Mar 1997, 23 (2) 87-88; DOI: 10.48044/joa.1997.23.2.87
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
Bookmark this article

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Materials and Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Acknowledgment
    • Literature Cited
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Hardscape of Soil Surface Surrounding Urban Trees Alters Stem Carbon Dioxide Efflux
  • Literature Review of Unmanned Aerial Systems and LIDAR with Application to Distribution Utility Vegetation Management
  • Borrowed Credentials and Surrogate Professional Societies: A Critical Analysis of the Urban Forestry Profession
Show more Articles

Similar Articles

© 2023 International Society of Arboriculture

Powered by HighWire