Mohammad Hossein Azimi
Abstract
Freesia belongs to the family Iridaceae and is one of the most popular bulbous species that can be used both as a cut flower and as a pot flower, depending on the situation. This study was carried out to produce new, high-quality offspring by intervarietal hybridization between five commercial cultivars ...
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Freesia belongs to the family Iridaceae and is one of the most popular bulbous species that can be used both as a cut flower and as a pot flower, depending on the situation. This study was carried out to produce new, high-quality offspring by intervarietal hybridization between five commercial cultivars of freesia hybrids. Eighteen morphometric traits, which were mostly related to flower organs, were evaluated on twelve progenies and five parental plants in a randomized complete block design (RCBD), with three replications (2014-2018). The assessments were based on instructions of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). The highest heritability of broad-sense traits was related to the outer segmental width of the perianth and the inner segmental width and length of the perianth. The lowest heritability was related to the length of stem between the first and second flowers. The number of flowers and buds had the most significant, positive correlation with spike length (r=+0.75). Likewise, the strongest positive, significant correlation was observed between the length of the inner and outer segments of the perianth (r=+0.79). Superior progenies consisted of the 20A hybrid, with a white color, which originated from the parental cross P1×P5. The 3A hybrid, with a yellow color, was obtained from the parental cross P2×P5, and the 28P hybrid, with a reddish brown color, was obtained from the parental cross P4×P5. These progenies were superior in terms of important traits such as plant height, branch number of the peduncle, spike length, number of buds and florets, compared to the parents. Thus, intervarietal hybridization in this research was proved as an effective way to generate new phenotypic variations of freesia hybrids, thereby providing opportunities to produce new plant materials for breeding purposes and release new cultivars.
Mohammad Hossein Azimi; Maryam Karimi Alvijeh; Abdolkarim Zarei
Abstract
To produce new, high-quality offsprings, we generated two cross combinations in Iris germanica. Three parental plants were selected after preliminary screening of commercial traits in different cultivars. Fourteen quantitative traits mostly related to the flower organ were investigated on 15 progenies ...
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To produce new, high-quality offsprings, we generated two cross combinations in Iris germanica. Three parental plants were selected after preliminary screening of commercial traits in different cultivars. Fourteen quantitative traits mostly related to the flower organ were investigated on 15 progenies and three parental plants in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Significant positive and negative correlations were observed among different studied attributes at 0.01 and 0.05 probability. The highest positive (+0.86) and negative (-0.76) correlations was recorded between diameter of flowering branch with crown diameter as well as peduncle length, respectively. Cluster analysis using Ward’s method separated most of the progenies from the parental plants based on evaluated morphological characteristics. However, some of the progenies were grouped with their maternal parent. In PCA analysis, five factors explained 87.84% of the total variations; crown diameters as well as diameter of flowering branch were predominant in the first component (34.19%). Some promising progenies with interesting characteristics were observed and several hybrid plants were superior to their parents and showed positive heterosis over their parents. Progenies NIOP5 and NIOP8 were superior in the most studied attributes, therefore, they suggested for further investigations which can be used in breeding programs. Progenies showed a wider range for flower diameter, peduncle thickness, bush height, as well as inner and outer tepal dimensions. Flower color also showed wider range in the progenies and purple, violet and white colors were the most frequent colors in the hybrid plants, while lilac color was the rarest one. Results of our investigation revealed that intervarietal hybridization is an effective way to contribute to the phenotypic variation in the iris flower for producing new plant materials for breeding purposes as well as releasing new cultivars. The inheritance of some of the traits identified in this study will be important for improving plant architecture in German iris plant.
