Breeding and Seed Production of Ornamental Crops (2+1)

Procedure of Hybridization

Before starting a breeding programme it is essential to set out the objectives. Once the breeder has decided the objectives of programme, the hybridization work could be started.
The important steps involved in hybridization are:
(1) Slection of parents
(2) Evaluation of parents
(3) Emasculation
(4) Bagging
(5) Tagging
(6) Pollination
(7) Harvesting and Storage of F₁ seed.
Steps in hybridization
1) Selection of Parents:-

• The selection of parents mainly depends upon the objectives of breeding programme. Besides the targeted breeding objective, increased yields is always an objective of the breeder. Therefore, it is essential that at least one of the parents involved in a cross should be a well adapted and established variety in the area for which the new variety is being developed.
• The other variety/parent should be having the characters that we want to transfer into the new variety.
• It is essential that all the characters which we want to improve should be present in one or the other parent. If the desirable character is not present in either of the parents then one can go for use of three or more parents leading to a complex cross. Thus, the selection of parents is the basic step in a hybridization programme and often, more than anything else, determines its success of failure.
2) Evaluation of Parents:-

• Generally a variety well adapted to a particular area/location is selected for the hybridization. However, if the performance of parents in the area where breeding is to be done is not known, evaluation becomes necessary. There is a possibility that the introduced variety selected as a parent in the breeding programme may be susceptible to the new races of the pathogen occurring in the area, or even to new diseases present in the area for which their reaction may not be known.
3) Emasculation:-

• Emasculation is essential to prevent self-fertilization in the flowers of the female parent. Therefore, it involves the removal of stamens or anthers of a flower without affecting the female reproductive organs. Emasculation may also be carried out by killing of pollen grains of the selected female parent.