Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding
Gene pool of Dendrobium species from Eastern Himalayan
region is largely unexploited in India. Cross compatability
was studied in 23 species and 14 hybrids of Dendrobium
for two consecutive years, based on synchrony of flowering.
The success of pod setting in species vs species was
recorded limiting to 8.97% in direct crosses and 18.75% in
respective possible reciprocal crosses. However, 34.37%
pod formation was observed in direct crosses in species vs
hybrids vs hybrids combinations and 50% success in their
reciprocal crosses. Among the species, cane orchid
(Dendrobium moschatum) is compatible as both male and
female parents, apart from hybrids ‘Emma White’ and
‘Thongchai Gold’. Twelve species failed to get pod formation
as both male and female parents that belong to section-II
of Eugenanthe (Dendrobium), Callista and Aporum that
are native to Eastern Himalayan region. The larger group of
Indian Dendrobium species that grouped in Dendrobium
section was found to be incompatible with other sections
and the success of intra-sectional combinations was limited
to only 5.8 %. However, species from sections Callista
followed by Eugenanthe and Dendrobium were cross
compatible with hybrids with 85.7 %, 40 % and 33.3 %
success of pod formation, respectively. These findings
suggest intermediary approaches to develop bridge crosses
to overcome incompatibility barriers in Dendrobium
improvement programmes.
Keywords: Dendrobium breeding, cross compatibility, inter-sectional hybridization, Eugenanthe section, Dendrobium section, Eastern Himalayas
Year: 2016
Volume: 76
Issue: 3
Article DOI: 10.5958/0975-6906.2016.00052.3
Print ISSN: 0019-5200
Online ISSN: 0975-6906
R. Devadas info_circle
S. L. Pattanayak info_circle
D. R. Singh info_circle
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