Breeding of flower and ornamental plants
Post | Breeding of flower plants |
Category | Floriculture |

In ornamentals, there is always a quest for the development of new cultivars. Since, in flowers a specimen can’t be seen for a longer duration and people have desire for the development of newer forms, colours and types of flowers. During evolution, the biodiversity has arisen on account of mutation, recombination and natural selection, which resulted in several variations in flowers. Most of these changes have been brought about by the efforts of professionals and enthusiastic amateurs most often as a result of close observations followed by selection.
Also read: Cut Flowers Multiple Choice Questions
Objectives of breeding of flower plants
- Improvement in floral quality.
- High floral yield.
- Resistance to insect-pests.
- Adaption to climate.
- Longer flowering duration.
- Early flowering.
- Development of fragrant cultivars.
Breeding tools to develop cultivars
- Somaclonal hybridization
- Somatic embryogenesis
- Somaclonal variations
- Transformation
- DNA recombinants
- Transgenics
Different methods of breeding ornamentals
- Introduction
- Selection: Mass and single plant selection
- Bud sports
- Mutation
- Polyploidy
- Hybridization: Single plant selection, back cross and recurrent
- Heterosis breeding
- Biotechnological tools
Also read: Chromosome (2n) Numbers of Different Flower Plants
Important plants native to India
Aster, barleria, bauhinia, begonia, crinum, gardenia, hedychium, impatiens, ipomoea, iris, ixora, jasminum, lilium, lonicera, orchids, pandanus, rhododenron, tabernaemontana, thunbergia.
Plant chimera
Cells of more than one genotype are found growing adjacent in the meristem, organ or tissues of that plant and its basic concept develops from variegated plants.
Bizzaria orange is the earliest graft plant chimera which arose after grafting scion of sour orange onto a seedling of cintron.
A cyto-chimera is a chimera with different ploidy levels in the apical cell layers. Periclinal chimeras are most stable, while mericlinal chimeras are unstable.
Origin of plant chimera
- Spontaneous mutation
- Induced mutation
- Sorting out from variegated plants
- Mixed callus culture
- Protoplast fusion
Important institutions working on breeding of flower and ornamental crops
- IARI, New Delhi
- NBRI, Lucknow
- IIHR, Bangalore
- NBPGR, New Delhi
- TNAU, Coimbatore
- PAU, Ludhiana
- BCKVV, Kalyani
- UAS, Bangalore
- IHBT, Palampur
- BSI, Kolkata
- BARC, Mumbai
- The Agri-horticultural Society of India
- Regional Plant Resource Centre, Bhubaneshwar
- Lalbagh Garden, Bangalore
- Horticultural Experiments and Training Centre Chaubatia, Ranikhet
Rose
Important rose breeders in India
- BP Pal
- BK Roy Chowdhury
- BS Bhattacharjee
- MS Viraraghvan
- Braham Dutt
- MN Hardikar
- PL Airun
- Arpi Thakur
- JP Agarwal
- YK Hande
- S Benerjee
- SC Dey
- RS Malik
- Vishnu Swarup
- Brijendra Singh
- AP Singh
- US Kaicker
Objectives of rose breeding
- Vigorous roses
- Free blooming
- Striking colours
- Strong fragrance
- Resistance to biotic and abiotic factors
Breeding methods in rose
- Seedling selection
- Hybridization
- Mutation
- Polyploidy
Leading institutions in rose breeding
- IARI, New Delhi
- NBRI, Lucknow
- Private nurseries
- Amateur gardeners
Bougainvillea
Breeding methods in bougainvillea
- Seedling selection
- Hybridization
- Bud sports
- Mutation
Leading institutes
- IARI, New Delhi
- NBRI, Lucknow
- Private nurseries
- Amateur gardeners
Important boigainvillea breeders in India
- TN Khoshoo
- SN Zadoo
- D Ohri
- BP Pal
Important hybrid cultivars
- Mary Palmer Special
- Begum Sikandar
- Chitra
- Wazid Ali Shah
Important mutated cultivars
- Shweta
- Shubhra
- Parthasarthy
- Surekha
- Nirmal
- Hawaiian Beauty
- Archana
Chrysanthemum
Important breeding methods
- Introduction
- Mutation
- Hybridization
Important chrysanthemum breeders
- MA Kher
- SK Datta
- MN Gupta
Important breeding institutes
- NBRI, Lucknow
- IIHR, Bangalore
- PAU, Ludhiana
- TNAU, Coimbatore
- Private nurseries
- Amateur gardeners
Jasmine, hibiscus, gladioulus, marigold, dahlia, and orchids
Important jasmine breeders in India
- HC Srivastava
- S Muthuswamy
- Bhupal Rao
- Madhava Rao
Important hibiscus breeders India
- RN Bhat
- M Virupaksha
Leading institutions in breeding gladiolus
- NBRI, Lucknow
- IIHR, Bangalore
- PAU, Ludhiana
- IHBT, Palampur
Important marigold breeders in India
- SPS Raghava
- Vishnu Swarup
Important dahlia breeders in India
- Swami Vinayananda
- PK Das
- AK Dey