The Chestnut Handbook

Crop & Forest Management

Gabriele Beccaro, Alberto Alma, Giancarlo Bounous, Jose Gomes-Laranjo, Gabriele Beccaro, Alberto Alma, Giancarlo Bounous, Jose Gomes-Laranjo

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429819193
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Botany
• Index: Biological Sciences

From Mediterranean Europe to Chile and from China to Australia, chestnut cultivation surface has greatly increased globally over the last several decades. The crop provides solid revenue to growers, is resilient to climate change and the fruits are a calorie-dense, carbohydrate-rich nut, the production of which improves soil and sequesters carbon. However, there is a great lack and a great need for technical information on management of old and new chestnut plantations.

The Chestnut Handbook shares achievements in chestnut development and cultivation including information on sustainable planning and management of chestnut production from nursery to plantation, entomology, pathology, and ecosystem services. Cultivation techniques of Chinese, Japanese, and European chestnut species including hybrids are described containing information on over 550 local and commercial cultivars. Beautiful original handmade drawings and technical sheets facilitate accessibility and comprehension of information.

FEATURES:

• Offers practical, easy-to-follow, technical solutions for chestnut farming and forestry, provides ideas for present and future plantations and management

• Contains more than 300 figures published in full color featuring original handmade drawings

• Provides information about cultural practices, nursery techniques and ecosystem services

• Includes a reference list of over 550 local and commercial cultivars of Chinese, Japanese, and European chestnut species and their hybrids

• Presents important information on both major and minor pests and diseases as well as pest diseases and physiological disorders.

With the collaboration of more than 30 researchers from internationally renowned institutes, professionals and nurserymen this book serves as a technical reference and valuable resource for agronomists, forest experts, farmers, researchers and students of agricultural and forestry sciences.

1	History Growing and Using the Chestnut in the World from Past to Present
	Giancarlo Bounous and Gabriele Beccaro

Geographically distributed in three main areas throughout the Northern Hemisphere (Asia, Europe, North America), the chestnut (Castanea spp.) has an invaluable historical and cultural heritage, a glorious past, but also a promising future, continuing to play an important economical and environmental role in many agroforestry systems. For centuries the nuts provided in rural areas a dietary staple and, when dried, a stored food for the whole year; the wood was used as firewood or building timber.

In Asia, mainly in China, the Chinese chestnuts (C. mollissima, C. henryi, and C. seguinii) are found in wild and cultivated stands and the history of Chinese chestnut cultivation could be traced back to many centuries B.C. Japan, the Korean peninsula and the temperate regions of East Asia are the natural range of the Japanese chestnut (C. crenata). The Chronicles of Japan (about 700 A.D.) state that in the era of the empress Jito Tenno (645–703 A.D.) the cultivation of chestnuts was promoted in order to fight hunger, and from the Nara to Heian Period (710–1180), the utilization of wild and cultivated chestnuts flourished (Figure 1.1).

Asia Minor, and more specifically the Transcaucasia region, is considered to be the centre for the domestication, cultivation, and dissemination of C. sativa (European chestnut or sweet chestnut). During the Roman Empire, thanks to the Roman Legions, the sweet chestnut spread beyond the Italian peninsula into the rest of Europe from East (Romania, Hungary) to West (Spain, Portugal), and to Southern England in the north. From the Middle Ages the chestnut replaced the oak in the European forests, and chestnuts become a staple food. Nowadays the chestnut still dominates forests, and plantations are found in 25 countries and cover a surface of more than 2 million hectares. After a period of abandonment until the end of the twentieth century, parts of old chestnut forests have been restored and new plantations established. In Turkey C. sativa is distributed over a broad range both in natural forests and in plantations (Figure 1.2).

In North America, C. dentata, a forest giant, was a dominant species in the broadleaf forests along the Appalachian range. The chestnut timber industry vanished about a century ago as the canker blight and ink disease decimated the American chestnut. Before being destroyed it furnished small nuts, fuel wood, building timber, and wood products. Nowadays in North America few chestnut plantations of economic importance, based mainly on Asiatic chestnut species or hybrids, have been established.

FIGURE 1.1 An extract from Y. Tanaka’s volume, cultivation of chestnut, Meibundou, Tokyo, 1933.

FIGURE 1.2 Wood piles of chestnut timber used to extract tannin, early twentieth century, Italy.

Into the Southern Hemisphere, mainly in Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina, C. sativa was introduced from Europe during the nineteenth century by the first settlers who brought with them seeds of food plants from their own countries. In Australia the gold rush of the 1850s and 1860s led to the first plantations of chestnut trees. Although the first plantations date back to that period, in Chile and Australia a true chestnut industry was established starting in the middle of the twentieth century and is rapidly growing following new technical interpretations of chestnut cultivation.

Today, the world’s leading chestnut producer is China, followed by Korea, Turkey, Italy, Japan, Spain, Portugal, France, and Greece, in decreasing order, but many other countries produce valuable nuts and timber. The market potential appears to be prosperous for the plantations established in suitable environments and the demand continues to outstrip the supply.

Chestnuts are a prized food for an increasingly large market and differ from other nuts in their low fat content, which makes them ideally suited for high complex carbohydrate and low fat diets. The nuts are used to prepare food products of a very healthy quality, often appearing in recipes for balanced dietary schemes. The beneficial effects of the nuts could be the driving force to increase consumption.

Nowadays consumers have a great concern for health, and this unique crop has an outstanding potential for different food products such as vegetables, pastry, dessert, and snacks. The largest part of the production is intended to the fresh market for roasting or boiling which covers a timeframe of six months, with an high demand at the beginning of the harvesting season. Roasted chestnuts in the street are a popular autumn and winter sight in cities all over the world. The best chestnuts, after peeling, are candied or sent to confectioneries to prepare marrons glacés, chestnuts in syrup or in alcohol. Whole peeled chestnuts can become water-packed in tins, dry-packed in glass jars, or vacuum packed. The purée is the base for creams and dairy desserts containing chestnut cream. Peeled and frozen nuts, flakes, beer, or liquor are other processed products high in demand. Dried chestnuts and flour are packed and sold throughout the year.

The increase in demand for environmentally friendly products is a driving force having a positive influence on the market. Technological and aesthetic quality, good resistance to meteoric agents and alterations, and durability make the timber of the species fit for high value products. Timber is used in flooring, building, furniture, and joinery. With coppice small diameter logs, panels, turnery, walking sticks, baskets, charcoal and firewood, garden furniture, traditional fences, vineyard stakes, poles climbing frames, and poles for slope consolidation works are produced. The market offers new products such as finger jointed beams and laminated veneer boards. Tannin is still used for skin tanning, and the wood, after tannin extraction, is reused for the realization of high density fiber panels. The tree is also reported to be a good contributor to carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services.

In addition, this species represents an invaluable bridge between culture and historical heritage: from the “bread tree” of the past, which provided food for generations of farmers, to the present resource, which enables us to satisfy the inborn need to recreate our spirit in a landscape where life can be spent on a human scale. Due to these positive traits, the chestnut landscape and ecosystem must be protected and improved for the great benefits it offers in terms of social welfare. It is a landmark of the history of the people who lived in the areas where the chestnut occurs; the chestnut forests are an unique witness of the liaison among cultivation, memory, and heritage. In old plantations the trees are natural monuments, and these ecosystems contain a large biodiversity and a high cultural heritage created by centuries of human activity. These signs are symbols of a civilization where the elements (dry-stone walls, roads, driers, rural buildings, mills), everyday use objects (furniture, handcrafts), traditions, and ethnic gastronomy should be preserved for leisure and recreation and to improve the quality of life.

2	Botany, Anatomy, and Nut Composition
	Gabriele Beccaro, Giancarlo Bounous, Marta De Biaggi, Dario Donno, Daniela Torello Marinoni, Feng Zou, and Maria Gabriella Mellano

CONTENTS

2.1 Taxonomy and Species Distribution

2.1.1 European Species

2.1.2 Asian Species

2.1.3 North American Species

2.2 Morphology

2.2.1 Root Systems and Mycorrhiza

2.2.2 Trunk and Branches

2.2.3 Leaves

2.2.4 Flowers

2.2.5 Nut

2.3 Phenological Phases

2.4 Nut Composition

2.4.1 Chemical Composition

2.4.1.1 Carbohydrates

2.4.1.2 Fibre

2.4.1.3 Protein

2.4.1.4 Lipids

2.4.1.5 Organic Acids

2.4.1.6 Mineral Elements

2.4.1.7 Polyphenolic Compounds

2.4.1.8 Vitamins

2.4.2 Allergens

2.4.3 Nutritional Value and Health Properties

References

2.1 TAXONOMY AND SPECIES DISTRIBUTION

Fagaceae (Cupuliferae) includes six genera (Castanea, Castanopsis, Fagus, Lithocarpus, Nothofagus, Quercus) and approximately 1000 species. The genus Castanea (x = 12, 2n = 24),¹ chestnuts and chinkapins, is supported as a monophyletic clade closely related to the genus Castanopsis.²

It is widespread in the boreal hemisphere (Figure 2.1) and includes 12 or 13 species depending on the classification (Table 2.1). The natural distribution of the European chestnut (C. sativa) covers Europe and all Mediterranean countries. In Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam) C. crenata, C. mollissima, C. seguinii, and C. henryi occur. In North America, C. dentata is now rarely present in its native range along the Appalachian Mountains due to the devastating impact of the chestnut blight, and C. pumila is found in the southeastern states.

The genus Castanea is classified into three sections: Eucastanon, Balanocastanon, and Hypocastanon, but further revisions are expected due to genetic studies in contrast to the validity of this classification.³

Castanea species show high levels of diversity (morphological and ecological traits, vegetative and reproductive habits, nut size, wood characteristics, adaptability and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses), reflecting the adaptation of the genus to different environmental conditions (Figure 2.2).

FIGURE 2.1 Main areas of chestnut (Castanea spp.) cultivatio...