Genotyping butternut for future conservation and resistance breeding efforts

Funding period: 2022–2024
Lead: Martin Williams
Total GRDI funding: $74,681

Butternut (Juglans cinerea L.) is an endangered species listed both nationally (Species at Risk Act, SARA, schedule 1, 2005) and globally (IUCN 2018). Butternut is 1 of only 2 native species of walnuts present in Canada. Because of the nature of the threat and the lack of disease resistance within the species, a hybrid breeding program to a sister species will likely be required to protect the species from extinction.

The objectives within this project are key first steps to characterizing the hybrids and to supporting the development of this program. This genomic tool will benefit many clients, research partners as well as jurisdictional and government stakeholders by providing a cost-efficient and accurate method of high throughput sample analysis. It will also support the identification of canker-resistant trees, which is a key objective in the SARA recovery strategy for butternut.