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IHBT Annual Report 2009-10

FLOWER CROPS

ROSE (Rosa spp.)

Breeding was attempted in ornamental roses to improve the shape, size and colour of flowers.
Scented roses are used in aromatic, food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Therefore,
attempts were also made to improve perpetual flowering, oil quality and size of hips for utilization
of vitamin C enriched pulp in food industries.
Inter-specific crosses were attempted in Rosa damascena cvs Jwala and Himroz using R.
bourboniana, R. centifolia, R. rugosa, R. brunonii (Acc. No. 16), R. multiflora (Acc. No. 24), Acc.
No. 18, Acc. No. 28, NBPGR 10, NBPGR 17 and R. indica var. odorata (Acc. No. 0) as parents. Of
1,686 pollinations attempted, 1,787 seeds were obtained. Crosses between R. bourboniana (Acc.
No. 18) and R. chinensis minima yielded 100 seeds from 98 pollinations. R. bourboniana was also
crossed with garden variety 'Queen Elizabeth' to create variations for flower shape and colour. R.
indica var. odorata (Acc. No. 0) were pollinated done using R. brunonii (Acc. No. 16), R.
bourboniana and R. chinensis minima, and 305 seeds were obtained from 134 pollinations.
Pollinations were also attempted in NBPGR 10 using R. rugosa and R. bourboniana as parents and
20 seeds were obtained from 48 pollinations. Direct and reciprocal crosses were attempted among
indigenous wild collections of R. brunonii (Acc. No. 16) and R. multiflora (Acc. No. 24) yielding
177 seeds from 120 pollinations. These two species were also crossed with R. alba (Acc. No. 21)
and R. cathayensis (Acc. No. 23) and 53 seeds were obtained from 410 pollinations.
In three-way crosses, F1 hybrids 2-13, 12-11, 13-6, 39-12, 42-15, 58-5, 60-9 and 61-1 were crossed
with R. damascena cv Jwala. F1 hybrids 2-13, 60-6 and 60-9 were also crossed with R.
bourboniana. Of 403 buds pollinated, 901 seeds were obtained. In 197 pollinations involving F1
61-1 and, R. centifolia, R. indica var. odorata (Acc. No. 0), NBPGR 10 and R. multiflora (Acc. No.
24), 405 seeds were obtained. A total of 5 backcross pollinations involving F1 31-5 with parent R.
bourboniana yielded two seeds. To combine fruit size of R. rugosa with high fruit number of F1 61-
1, 120 crosses were attempted and 73 seeds were obtained. Intervarietal crosses in R. damascena
involving cvs Himroz and Jwala yielded 67 seeds from 12 pollinations. Crosses among F1s 61-1×2-
13 and 31-5×33-5 yielded 47 seeds from 45 pollinations and 13 seeds from 6 pollinations,
respectively.

In a separate activity, 799.1 kg flowers were distilled, which yielded 225.8 g oil and 800 L rose
water (Grade-AA).

LILIUM (Lilium spp.)

Lilies are among the top ten flowers of the world owing to their ease of growing, stately grace,
attractive colors, excellent vase life and in some cases exhilarating fragrance. The cheapest,
effective and rapid method of vegetative propagation of lilies is through scales. In a study on
bulblet production of Asiatic hybrid lily, the response of cultivars, bulb size, scales, growth media
and conditions were tested. Maximum number of bulblets per scale (3.11) was obtained when
scales of cv Grand Paradiso were planted in sawdust at room temperature.

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