International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol.7, No.22, 180-204
186
The Persian rose, particularly the Damask rose was introduced into India during early Mughal days. Later, during
the British period, the Edward rose, a hybrid Bourbon (
Rosa bourboniana
) was introduced in India in 1840. Some
notable introductions of rose cultivar are ‘Spotless Pink’, ‘Altissimo Deep Red’, ‘Crimson Scarlet’, ‘Doris
Tysterman’, ‘Dutch Gold’, ‘Fragrant Delite’, ‘Swan Lake’, ‘Topekar’, ‘White Cocode’. About thirty three species
of
Rosa
were introduced from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Holland, U. K. and USA and amongst
them,
Rosa canina, Rosa laxa, Rosa hugonis, R. rubiginosa, R. multiflora, R. pomifera
are important.
A large number of exotic genotypes like
Anemone, Begonia, Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, Freesia, Gladiolus,
Gloxinia, Hyacinthus, Iris, Narcissus, Lilium
and tulips have been introduced. In gladiolus, 158 cultivars have
been introduced from USA, UK, Canada, Egypt, Israel and USSR; EC-197878-894, EC 197953-977 were
introduced from USA; cultivars like ‘Encore’, ‘Lorilee’, ‘Spartan’, ‘Accolade’, ‘Queen’, ‘High Light’ and ‘Pink
Lady’ from Canada; EC 216397 from Egypt; ‘Trader’, ‘Horen’, ‘Novalux’, ‘Peter Pears’ and ‘Rose Prince’ from
Israel; ‘Bid Time’, WIR 790, ‘Blueshire’ and S’now Spirite’ WIR 855 from USSR. Among species,
Gladiolus
cardinalis
,
Gladiolus byzantinus
were introduced from Canada, Egypt, Israel, UK, USA and USSR
; Gladiolus
communis
from Denmark. Modern hybrids of Freesia, ‘Olympiad Jones’ and ‘Olympiad Gloe’ were introduced
from Denmark. British and Portugese introduced a number of carnation cultivars. NBPGR has introduced 74
collections of carnation from Australia, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, UK and USA. Among species
Dianthus spiculiformis, Dianthus fragrans, Dianthus pinifolius, Dianthus balbisii, Dianthus barbatus, Dianthus
plumarius, Dianthus deltoides, Dianthus prateaus and Dianthus armeria
were notable. Two collections of
cyclamen
, Cyclamen persicum and Cyclamen herifolium
were introduced from Denmark, Germany and U.K.
Iris laevigata
was an introduction from U.K. NBPGR recently introduced
Impatiens balsamina
(EC 582735,
582736) from UK;
Impatiens glandulifera
and
Lotus corniculatus
from UK. In lily,
Lilium pirkinense
and
Lilium
enzosetn
were introduced from Australia. In flowering annuals, notable exotic introductions made by NBPGR
include species and cultivars of
Aster, Alcea, Antirrhinum, Calendula, Celosia, Delphinium, Eschsoltzia,
Impatiens, Lathyrus, Petunia, Stock, Salpiglossis, Tagetes, Tropaelum, Viola
and
Zinnia
.
Viola tricolor
and
Viola
wittrockiana
were introduced from Canada, France, UK and USA
. Zinnia angustifolia
is an introduction from
Australia and France. Other annuals like
Antirrhinum majus
from Australia, France and China;
Calendula
officinalis
from France; cultivars of
Tagetes erecta, T. patula and T. tenuifolia
from Australia, Holland, Slovakia
and USA. A large number of exotic cultivars of orchids belonging to the genera
Cymbidium, Cattleya,
Dendrobium and Paphiopedilum
were introduced.
6 Selection
It is the oldest breeding method and the basis of all crop improvements. It is choosing the best out of one’s crop
continued over generations for development and retention of already developed varieties. Spontaneous mutation
and population improvement through natural hybridization and recombination over generations are the basis of
selection. Self pollinated crops are naturally homozygous and do not show inbreeding depression. So selection is
employed to isolate plants with superior genotypes and to establish separate pure lines or their seeds are bulked to
produce a mixture of pure lines. Individual plants from cross pollinated crops are highly heterozygous and the
progeny from such plants are heterogeneous and normally different from parent plant due to segregation and
recombination. These types of crops show moderate to severe inbreeding depression and such characteristics are
kept minimum for population improvements. This method is utilized in the development of cultivars of lily,
dahlia, chrysanthemum, camellia etc.
Chrysanthemum cvs. ‘Apsara’, ‘Birbal Sahni’, ‘Jayanthi’, ‘Kundan’, have been developed through selection.
Similarly cvs. ‘Shubhra’, ‘Dr B.P. Pal’, ‘Parthasarthy’ and ‘Surekha’ in Bougainvillea and ‘Pusa Arpita’ in
marigold have been developed. In Bougainvillea varieties, 'Sholay' and 'Usha' are the half sib selection of cv. 'Red
Glory' and 'Lady Hope' developed at IIHR, Banglore.
