Selection of blight-resistant chestnut trees in Switzerland

This paper reviews initiation and execution of the selection program for blight-resistant chestnut trees in Switzerland. Important information about predisposition, resistance, and inoculation methods gained during the preliminary studies forms the basis for selection and interpretation of test results. During the last 25 years over 120000 native and Asian chestnut trees and their hybrids were tested in inoculation experiments. Now about 40000 of the selected trees are being further tested in gene banks and are being subjected to additional selection procedures.