Patent Application
20140189912
Corylus avellana
‘Dorris’
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Corylus plant, (hazelnut, filbert) botanically known as Corylus avellana, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Dorris’. Corylus avellana is in the family Betulaceae.
The new Corylus resulted from a controlled cross of female parent OSU 309.074 (unpatented) and male parent ‘Delta’ (unpatented) made in 1997 by Shawn A. Mehlenbacher and David C. Smith. Hybrid seeds from the cross were harvested in August 1997, stratified, and seedlings grown in the greenhouse during the summer of 1998. From this cross, a total of 307 seedling trees were planted in the field in Corvallis, Oreg., USA in October, 1998. ‘Dorris’ was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a single plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Corvallis, Oreg.
‘Dorris’ was originally assigned the designation OSU 876.041, which indicates the row and tree location of the original seedling. OSU 309.074 is from a cross of ‘Tonda Gentile delle Langhe’ (unpatented)×OSU 23.017 (unpatented). ‘Tonda Gentile delle Langhe’ is an important cultivar in Piemonte, northern Italy. OSU 23.017 is from a cross of ‘Barcelona’ (unpatented)בExtra Ghiaghli’ (unpatented). ‘Extra Ghiaghli’, obtained from Greece, is a clone of the important Turkish cultivar ‘Tombul’ (unpatented). ‘Delta’ was released by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in 2002.
The new cultivar was asexually reproduced by rooted suckers annually for eight years (2003-2010) in Corvallis, Oreg. The new cultivar was also asexually propagated by whip grafting in 2004 in Corvallis, Oreg. The unique features of this new Corylus are stable and reproduced true-to-type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of ‘Dorris’. These characteristics in combination distinguish ‘Dorris’ as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Spreading plant habit and low vigor.
2. Yellowish-green developing and fully expanded leaves during the spring and summer.
3. Resistance to eastern filbert blight caused by the fungus Anisogramma anomala (Peck) E. Muller.
4. Presence of random amplified polymorphic DNA markers 152-800 and 268-580 in DNA of ‘Dorris’ amplified by the polymerase chain reaction. These two markers are linked to a dominant allele for resistance to eastern filbert blight from the cultivar Gasaway (unpatented).
5. Expression of incompatibility alleles S1 and S12 in the styles,
6. DNA fingerprints at 14 of 24 microsatellite marker loci differ from both parents OSU 309.074 and ‘Delta’, and from one parent at an additional 9 marker loci. The microsatellite primers are shown in Table 1, and allele sizes are shown in Table 2. DNA fingerprints of grandparent ‘Tonda Gentile delle Langhe’ and great-grandparents ‘Barcelona’ and ‘Extra Ghiaghli’ are also shown in attached Table 2.
In comparisons in two replicated trials conducted in Corvallis, Oreg., plants of the new Corylus differed from plants of the Corylus avellana cultivar Barcelona (unpatented), and other cultivars and selections of Corylus avellana known to the Inventors primarily in nut size, nut shape, kernel percentage (ratio of kernel weight to nut weight), frequency of blank nuts (nuts lacking kernels), time of pollen shed, time of nut maturity, length of the husk or involucre, and plant size.
The accompanying colored photographs illustrate the overall appearance of the new cultivar, showing the colors as true as it is reasonably possible to obtain in colored reproductions of this type. Foliage colors in the photographs may differ slightly from the color values cited in the detailed botanical description which accurately describe the colors of the new Corylus.
The cultivar Dorris has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype. The aforementioned photographs and following observations and measurements describe plants grown in Corvallis, Oreg. under commercial practice outdoors in the field during the fall, winter and spring. Plants used for the photographs and description were propagated by tie-off layerage and growing on their own roots, and about seven years old. In the following description, color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 1966 Edition, except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used.
This invention was made with government support under Specific Cooperative Agreement No. 58-5358-4542 awarded by the United States Department of Agriculture. The government has certain rights in the invention.
