NEW INTERSPECIFIC HYBRIDS OF ALSTROEMERIA OBTAINED THROUGH IN VITRO EMBRYO-RESCUE

Breeding of Alstroemeria via hybridization and X-ray mutation of rhizomes was done in England, in the Netherlands and in the USA (Goemans, 1962; Broertjes and Verboom, 1974). The commercial cultivars are interspecific hybrids with unreported parentage between Andean Chilean species and most of them are sterile triploids from crosses of spontaneous tetraploids with diploids (Heins and Wilkins, 1979). These cultivars have been selected in cultural conditions of relatively high humidity and low temperature and light. In the Italian environment, these genotypes show a poor flowering ability in the winter season because of the lack of cool soil conditions, essential to induce flowering (Aker and Healy, 1990).

The Brazilian genotypes were rarely involved in breeding programs. They have vigorous plants, mostly evergreen with large leaves, non-stop flowering all around the year and they are well adapted for cultivation in subtropical and Mediterranean conditions (Tombolato et al., 1993). In 1991, the Instituto Sperimentale per la Floricoltura of Sanremo (Italy) and the Instituto Agronomico of Campinas-SP (Brazil) planned a breeding program crossing wild Brazilian species with Chilean species and commercial varieties, with the goal to select new genotypes suitable for the Mediterranean area. In this work, the first results of this activity are discussed.

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