Proceedings of the XLV Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics - SIGA Annual Congress

Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy - 26/29 September, 2001

ISBN 88-900622-1-5

Poster Abstract

NEW GENOTYPES OF LIMONIUM

BURCHI G., MERCURI A., BIANCHINI C., FOGLIA G., BREGLIANO R., SCHIVA T.

Istituto Sperimentale per la Floricoltura, Corso degli Inglesi 508, 18038 Sanremo, Imperia, Italy

istflori@sistel.it

Limonium, breeding, interspecific crosses

The genus Limonium includes a lot of species. It is cultivated for cut stem production (fresh and dried flowers). Limonium is an interesting ornamental plant because it can be easily cultivated in mediterranean climates, in particular in the south of Italy where the environmental conditions are hard for other ornamentals.

The first results of a breeding activity on Limonium, started in 1998, are reported. More than ninety wild species, varieties and interspecific hybrids were rescued and cultivated in greenhouses, in open air and in vitro. The fertile and the most interesting genotypes were utilized in an incomplete diallelic cross design since June 1998.

The first interspecific and intraspecific hybrids were obtained in 1999 and 2000. They derive mainly from the species L.latifolium, L.gmelinii, L.perezii, L.serotinum, L.tataricum, L.caspia (syn. L.otolepis) and L.bonduelli. The selected hybrids have been propagated in vitro and evaluated in open air and in greenhouses in Sanremo, from summer 2000, and also in Pescia and Palermo, from 2001.

New selections from the species L.fortunei (syn. L.sinensis), L.aureum, L.deracifolium, L.binervosum, L.gougetianum and L.puberulum have been obtained in 2001.

The most interesting new genotypes are shown in this work.