Hibiscus moscheutos L. is an herbaceous hibiscus native to eastern North America that has been a popular landscape and container plant exhibiting large and colorful flowers in the summer. However, unsightly fruit develop and remain on the stalks at the end of the blooming season, which greatly decreases the ornamental value. Thus, breeding for sterility was attempted through ploidy level manipulation to reduce formation and growth of seed stalks, and to improve blooming vigor and longevity.
In a new study, colchicine and oryzalin were used as mitotic inhibitors to induce tetraploid breeding lines that could be used to develop sterile triploids. Germinated seedlings of ‘Luna Red’ were soaked in three concentrations of each doubling agent for three different durations.
Exposure to a low concentration of colchicine solution for a long time or to a low concentration of oryzalin for a short period was found to be effective in yielding a high number of tetraploids with a low rate of mortality. Triploids were obtained from the traditional method of crossing tetraploids with diploids. Triploid and tetraploid plants showed a decrease in height with a more compact form. Leaves of tetraploid plants were more ruffled, with an increase in overall leaf thickness, but were not different from leaves of diploids and triploids in regard to leaf mass per area (LMA). Triploid plants bloomed longer but had smaller flowers than diploid plants.
Although the whole planting was infected by aerial phytophthora, diploid, tetraploid, and triploid plants were significantly different in their tolerances: all diploid branches were infected, but only a minor infection occurred on one triploid branch, and the transmission remained slow. Flowers of tetraploid plants failed to produce pollen, whereas flowers of triploid plants produced only nonviable pollen grains and fruits aborted after pollination, which led to infertility of induced triploids.
Access the full study at HortScience
Announcements
Vacancies
- Technical Sales Representative, Leamington, Ontario
- Technical Sales Representative, Ancaster, Ontario
- HR Generalist
- Head Grower Strawberries (West Virginia USA)
- Global Sourcing Manager
- Buying Operations Manager (BOM Process)
- Sourcing Manager EU
- Manager Operations Ethiopia
- Manager Operations Ethiopia
- Senior Grower
"Tweeting Growers"
Top 5 - yesterday
Top 5 - last week
Top 5 - last month
- Hasfarm’s network expands in Indonesia, partnering with Bromelia Flowers and Tropika
- "Breeders need to study the Chinese market carefully before introducing a variety"
- Royal Flowers merges with The Elite Group
- North America: “Unbridled optimism for Mother’s Day tempered by reality”
- “A new sales channel for flower companies without any labor or high fixed costs”
Receive the daily newsletter in your email for free | Click here
Other news in this sector:
- 2023-06-01 Multilingual support for IPM and yield forecasting platform
- 2023-06-01 Plants can sense when something touches them
- 2023-06-01 Analysis of single plant cells provides insights into natural product biosynthesis
- 2023-06-01 US (FL): Researchers focus on vanilla as alternative crops for small growers
- 2023-06-01 How a mysterious protein plays a crucial role in plant growth
- 2023-05-25 "Growers apply shading later because of dark spring"
- 2023-05-25 "As soon as there is a crisis, there is more need to zoom in on data"
- 2023-05-24 Starting Rudbeckia ‘Sunbeckia’ production
- 2023-05-23 Solar cells that support greenhouse farming
- 2023-05-23 US: Michigan agriculture organizations support Farm Bill facilities investment
- 2023-05-19 Cropping Up: Ride the farming wave with Utah horticulturalist Sheridan Hansen
- 2023-05-18 Cultivation digitization: how can growers get started?
- 2023-05-18 "Growing demand for construction professionals in CEA"
- 2023-05-17 Pursuing sustainability in floriculture
- 2023-05-15 "Vertical solar panels under the gutter can provide significant savings in plastic greenhouses"
- 2023-05-11 Embracing change with new growing systems
- 2023-05-05 US (CA): Winery uses flowers instead of grapes
- 2023-05-05 Scientists unlock the secret to roses aroma
- 2023-05-04 The lost art of chrysanthemum cultivation
- 2023-05-03 Comprehensive assessment of varieties of garden roses in the conditions of the Udmurt Republic
