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Viburnum dilatatum is a popular and economically important ornamental shrub. The wide range of desirable horticultural traits, paired with a propensity for seedlings to become invasive, has created interest in the genetics and breeding of this species. To investigate the genetic diversity of V. dilatatum, microsatellite loci were identified from a GT-enriched genomic library constructed from V. dilatatum ‘Asian Beauty’. Eleven microsatellite loci have been characterized on a group of 16 different related V. dilatatum cultivars and hybrids. Two to 12 alleles were identified per locus, and the polymorphism information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.36 to 0.87. Expected heterozygosity (H_e) ranged from 0.48 to 0.88 and observed heterozygosity (H_o) ranged from 0 to 0.73. This set of molecular markers also exhibited expected transferability between various V. dilatatum cultivars and two hybrids with V. japonicum. As a consequence, these markers will aid in breeding for new cultivar development, assist with early detection and screening of plants that have escaped cultivation, and are expected to help in refining the phylogenetic relationship of V. dilatatum to other species and genera within the Adoxaceae.

Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) is a biologically based, non-fumigant, pre-plant soil treatment developed to control soilborne plant pathogens and plant-parasitic nematodes in specialty crop production systems. Soil treatment by ASD includes the incorporation of a labile carbon (C) source, tarping with plastic, and irrigation of the topsoil to saturation (5 cm irrigation) to create conditions conducive to anaerobic decomposition of the added C source. A field study was implemented beginning in Fall 2010 and repeated in the same plot locations in Fall 2011 in Knoxville, TN, to evaluate ASD. Soil properties, weed and Rhizoctonia solani population dynamics, and crop performance were evaluated after ASD treatment with several potential C sources for ASD before production of fresh-market tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. ‘Red Defender’) and red bell pepper (Capsicum annum L. ‘Red Knight X3R’). Treatments included: 1) untreated control; 2) mustard seed meal (biofumigant control); 3) ASD with dried molasses; 4) ASD with soil-incorporated Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.), white mustard (Sinapis alba L.), and arugula (Eruca sativa Mill.) cover crop with molasses added at cover crop incorporation; 5) ASD with soil-incorporated Indian mustard, white mustard, and arugula cover crop; 6) ASD with soil-incorporated cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop with molasses added at cover crop incorporation; and 7) ASD with soil-incorporated cereal rye cover crop. Accumulated soil anaerobic conditions were significantly greater than the untreated control in all ASD treatments except the ASD mustard/arugula treatment. Although not related to accumulated anaerobic conditions, populations of R. solani were lowest and equivalent to the biofumigant control for ASD cereal rye and ASD mustard/arugula treatments. Differences in weed populations and soil inorganic nitrogen among treatments were limited. Yield of bell pepper and tomato did not differ among treatments, which may have been partly the result of the low pest pressure observed at the site over the 2 years of the study.

Viburnum rufidulum is a deciduous tree native to North America that has four-season appeal, which provides commercial horticultural value. In addition, the plant has unique and attractive red pubescence on leaf buds and petioles, common to no other Viburnum species. As habitat undergoes development and subsequent fragmentation of native plant populations, it is important to have baseline genetic information for this species. Little is known about the genetic diversity within populations of V. rufidulum. In this study, seven microsatellite loci were used to measure genetic diversity, population structure, and gene flow of 235 V. rufidulum trees collected from 17 locations in Kentucky and Tennessee. The genotype data were used to infer population genetic structure using the program InStruct and to construct an unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean dendrogram. A single population was indicated by the program InStruct and the dendrogram clustered the locations into two groups; however, little bootstrap support was evident. Observed and expected heterozygosity were 0.49 and 0.78, respectively. Low-to-moderate genetic differentiation (F _ST = 0.06) with evidence of gene flow (N_m = 4.82) was observed among 17 populations of V. rufidulum. A significant level of genetic diversity was evident among V. rufidulum populations with most of the genetic variations among individual trees (86.37%) rather than among populations (13.63%), and a Mantel test revealed significant correlation between genetic and geographical distance (r = 0.091, P = 0.001). The microsatellites developed herein provide an initial assessment or a baseline of genetic diversity for V. rufidulum in a limited area of the southeastern region of the United States. The markers are a genetic resource and can be of assistance in breeding programs, germplasm assessment, and future studies of V. rufidulum populations, as this is the first study to provide genetic diversity data for this native species.