User: Nicole Lavoie (Filières PFNL et cultures innovantes du Bas-Saint-Laurent)
The Comité Filières PFNL et cultures innovantes du Bas-Saint-Laurent (BSL) has established a regional bioeconomy centered on hazelnuts. Since 2018, approximately twenty hazelnut orchards have been established across various regional county municipalities (MRCs) in the region. These orchards comprise hazelnut seedlings of unknown genetic backgrounds, undergoing assessment for their productivity in the Nordic climate of the BSL. However, a significant threat hangs over the industry: Eastern filbert blight, a fungal disease prevalent in North America, has the potential to devastate hazelnut crops within a few years of infection. Recognizing the urgency, the Committee considers it paramount to identify seedlings resistant to this disease to ensure sustainable hazelnut production.
As part of the research endeavor, hazelnut seedlings from the BSL are undergoing evaluation for their resistance to Eastern filbert blight utilizing two genomics-based methodologies: genotyping hazelnuts for known disease resistance genes and early disease detection in hazelnuts post-pathogen inoculation using molecular tools. Leveraging genomics promises to expedite the identification of hazelnut specimens well-suited to the Nordic climate and resilient against Eastern filbert blight.