Subtropical and flower crops breeding at the Subtropical Scientific Centre

Abstract

This paper presents the results on the breeding work carried out by the Subtropical Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Currently, the Centre’s breeders are doing a lot of work aimed at breeding new fine yielding cultivars of subtropical and flower crops that will be resistant to growing conditions; they include kaki persimmon, feijoa, mandarin, freesia, crown anemone, pelargonium and chrysanthemum. The sources of high-level priority traits in flower crops that are valuable for further breeding in order to improve decorative (colour, flower shape, inflorescence), economic and biological traits (flowering period, a large number of flowers in the inflorescence, storage period of cut flowers, disease resistance, high reproduction coefficient) were recorded. The aim of the research is to improve the subtropical and flower crops assortment. The objects of the research were 989 hybrid forms: 136 citrus crops, 56 persimmon, 36 feijoa, 38 tea plant, 11 pear, 24 hazel, 108 freesia, 398 crown anemone, 120 pelargonium and 62 chrysanthemum hybrids. New cultivars with a complex of valuable traits have been created as a result of the scientific work. Over the past five years, FRC SSC of RAS has created 50 new cultivars: 26 pelargonium, 15 anemone, 5 freesia, 2 chrysanthemum, 1 persimmon and 1 apple and submitted them to the State Cultivar Commission. The “State Register of Selection Achievements Authorized for Use for Production Purposes” has included 63 cultivars developed by FRC SSC RAS, including 26 pelargonium, 13 anemone, 9 chrysanthemum, 7 freesia, 4 hazel, 3 feijoa and 1 tea plant cultivars. 46 patents for breeding achievements have been obtained.

Breeding bulbous and bulbotuberiferous flower crops at the Subtropical Scientific Centre of RAS

“…The objects of research are various flower crops, including bulbous and bulbotuberiferous [8][9] polyploid and interspecific tulip hybrids, sufficiently resistant to gray rot, mottling, suitable for cutting in open and protected ground and for landscape architecture; creation of constant seed races for hybrid freesia; identification of correlative relationships for selecting plants at earlier stages of ontogenesis in order to accelerate the breeding process. Work has been carried out to establish the chromosomal numbers of the studied cultivars and hybrids by luminescent microscopy, the mechanisms of pollen tubes growth in pistils of different genotypes have been revealed in distant and diverse crosses, the possibility of selecting resistant freesia forms according to the parameters of slow chlorophyll fluorescence induction has been established [10].…”

Conserving biodiversity of plant genetic collections in FRC SSC of RAS

“…The gene pool includes cultivars of Russian and foreign breeding, aboriginal, intergenerational and interspecific forms, as well as clones, rare, endangered and endemic species of natural flora. The biological diversity of plants has been conserved, comprehensively studied and is an extremely valuable genetic material for various research programs, including breeding [7][8][9][10]. Methods and techniques of conservation, reproduction and cultivation have been developed and continue to be improved.…”

Bioresource collection of flower crops in FRC SSC of RAS and its use in breeding research

“…In turn, scientific centres and botanical gardens preserve and maintain collections of flower crops, conducting diverse research [2][3][4][5][6][7]. In addition, breeding work is being actively carried out on many crops, varietal sources of valuable traits are being identified, and new original domestic cultivars are being bred [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. All this is the basis for import substitution and production commercialization.…”