Breeding disease-tolerant trees to restore the American elm

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The goal of the USDA Forest Service American elm tree breeding program is to restore American elm to urban and forest ecosystems through partnerships and rigorous science. The American elm is one of several tree species that have been impacted by invasive pests and pathogens and are the focus of tree breeding initiatives. We are working to develop improved screening techniques to identify disease-tolerant trees, test restoration strategies, and to ultimately develop genetically diverse breeding populations of disease-tolerant American elm for restoration of the species across the landscape. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the American elm tree breeding program, discuss results from recent experiments, and describe opportunities for partnership. Our recent experiments have identified additional trees with tolerance to Dutch elm disease. Large survivor American elm trees were clonally propagated to create identical trees and also used in controlled crosses to generate progeny. These trees were grown in orchard plantings and then inoculated with the Dutch elm disease fungal pathogens, Ophiostoma ulmi and O. novo-ulmi. The health of the trees was recorded 1 year post-inoculation to determine their tolerance to the Dutch elm disease fungus. We identified multiple trees with excellent tolerance (little to no dieback or decline of branches in the canopy) to Dutch elm disease, similar to disease-tolerant American elm trees currently commercially available. In another experiment, with trees planted in Ohio and northern Minnesota, we found that climate may affect both the survival and the disease-tolerance of American elms.

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