Articles
Rebuilding Hawaii’s anthurium germplasm collection for cultivar and species preservation, breeding, and biotechnological research
Article number
1185_17
Pages
117 – 122
Language
English
Abstract
Anthurium is the third most important floriculture crop in Hawaii, grown mainly as a cut flower.
The University of Hawaii (UH) has had a well-established anthurium breeding program since 1950, with a germplasm collection assembled from backyard growers, hobbyists, researchers, and collection trips from countries of origin prior to the 1993 adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Substantial losses to the UH greenhouse collection from the mid-1980s to the 1990s occurred due to bacterial blight.
In 2014, a key collaboration between the UH and the USDA Pacific Basin Agriculture Research Center arose to collect species, heritage, and commercial cultivars with important horticultural attributes.
The germplasm collections are housed in greenhouses in three separate locations on Oahu (UH) and Hawaii Island (USDA and UH), as an insurance against adverse weather events such as hurricanes or strong winds that may damage the greenhouses, or unforeseen pest or disease outbreaks.
Complementing the greenhouse collection is an in vitro collection of triple-indexed accessions to maintain disease-free stock.
The germplasm serves as a genetic resource for continued conventional breeding as well as biotechnology research in both institutions.
The University of Hawaii (UH) has had a well-established anthurium breeding program since 1950, with a germplasm collection assembled from backyard growers, hobbyists, researchers, and collection trips from countries of origin prior to the 1993 adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Substantial losses to the UH greenhouse collection from the mid-1980s to the 1990s occurred due to bacterial blight.
In 2014, a key collaboration between the UH and the USDA Pacific Basin Agriculture Research Center arose to collect species, heritage, and commercial cultivars with important horticultural attributes.
The germplasm collections are housed in greenhouses in three separate locations on Oahu (UH) and Hawaii Island (USDA and UH), as an insurance against adverse weather events such as hurricanes or strong winds that may damage the greenhouses, or unforeseen pest or disease outbreaks.
Complementing the greenhouse collection is an in vitro collection of triple-indexed accessions to maintain disease-free stock.
The germplasm serves as a genetic resource for continued conventional breeding as well as biotechnology research in both institutions.
Authors
T.D. Amore, T.K. Matsumoto, J.Y. Suzuki, P.J. Toves, J.S.L. Imamura
Keywords
triple-indexing, in vitro conservation, genetic resources
Online Articles (39)