S05 - Session P4 - Compatibility of interspecific hybridization between tulip cultivars and wild species native to China

Authors: Lianwei Qu *, Guimei Xing, Huihua Zhang, Yanqiu Zhang, Jiaojiao Lu, Tianyu Wu

Interspecific hybridization is an important tool for breeding of new cultivars with novel characteristics introduced from their parents. Interspecific hybridization was carried out between five commercial tulip cultivars 'Heart of Poland', 'Golden Parade', 'Purple Dream', 'Crystal Star' , 'Bolroyal Dream' and the wild species T ulipa altaica . In the five tested combinations, the compatibility was evaluated by different parameters including pollen germinability, stigma receptivity, fruit-setting, hybrid seed germination and bulblet formation in this paper. The results of this study showed that T. altaica has the highest germination rate (69.58%) compared to any other parent. The highest stigmatic receptivity in the five female crossing parent was recorded on 11:00 am one day after flowering. The crosses of 'Heart of Poland' × T. altaica and 'Bolroyal Dream' × T. altaica gained the highest percentage of fruit setting with 79.32% and 82.23%, respectively. In total 698 hybrid seeds were obtained from different interspecific hybridization combinations, including 'Heart of Poland' × T. altaica , 'Purple dream' × T. altaica and 'Bolroyal Dream' × T. altaica . In contrast, the other two crosses with 'Golden Parade' and 'Crystal Star' as female parents were completely unsuccessful. The highest rates of seed germination and bulblet formation were recorded in the crosse combination 'Heart of Poland' × T. altaica with 63.45% and 55.63% respectively, and in 'Bolroyal Dream' × T. altaica with 58.35% and 61.88% . The results of this research provide some useful information about the interspecific cross ability between T. altaica and tulip cultivars.