Abstract:

Chinese old garden roses were crucial genetic resource for new varieties breeding and selection. The cross compatibility was analyzed, which can be useful for the application of new rose varieties breeding and selection in Chinese old garden roses. In our study, interspecific hybridization characteristics (seedlings and germination rate) were analyzed by using artificial hybridization, which were selected 18 Chinese old garden roses as one of the crossing parent with modern roses or few wild roses for 4 years. 6 varieties had more powder scattering, including ‘Dafugui’, ‘Sichun’, ‘Yipinzhuyi’, ‘Parson’s Pink China’, ‘Zihongxiang’ and ‘Zixiangrong’. The pollen germination rate in vitro was low, varieties with the rate above 20% included ‘Yulinglong’, ‘Yipinzhuyi’, ‘Parson’s Pink China’, ‘Zixiangrong’, ‘Dafugui’, ‘Sichun’ and ‘Putaohong’. Totally, 285 hybrid combinations were carried out, which had 1190 flowers, 271 seedlings and the seed setting rate was 22.77%. Meanwhile, 1833 of all the 4744 seeds germinated (38.64%). The results indicated that 8 varieties of ‘Dafugui’, ‘Putaohong’, ‘Ruanxianghong’, ‘Sichun’, ‘Yipinzhuyi’, ‘Yunzhengxiawei’, ‘Zihongxiang’ and ‘Zixiangrong’ had high seed setting ability and their F₁ hybrids could be easily obtained.

Key words: Chinese old garden roses, seed setting ability, pollen, artificial hybridization, breeding