Elm Review

The ravages of Dutch Elm Disease have been well recorded. The tendency to plant Elms in monocultures in city streets made the species particularly vulnerable. By the mid 1960’s some 55 million Elm Trees had been lost to the disease in North America and Great Britain and other than in some isolated pockets the tree has virtually disappeared as a feature in the urban landscape.

Elm disease is a problem which encompasses many different facets with the host, the pathogen and the vector to be considered in a matrix of interrelated scenarios subjected to both biotic and abiotic influences. Since the early 1930’s classical breeding programmes have researched combinations of available Elm germplasm. The fact that Frank Schmidt Nurseries in Oregon, USA listed in their 2008 catalogue some fifteen species and cultivars with a degree of resistance to Dutch Elm disease is an indication of some success in those breeding programmes. 

Please download the pdf of the literature review looking at the complexities of Elm breeding programmes and developments in genetic manipulation below.