Articles
EFFECT OF LOW LIGHT INTENSITY ON FLOWERING OF ASIATIC LILIES
A breeding program was started to obtain lily genotypes that can be forced without applying additional light.
Growth room experiments showed considerable differences among eight lily cultivars in their response to light.
For the selection of lilies with a low light requirement both seedling and induced mutation populations were tested under winter light conditions in the greenhouse.
Analysis of an incomplete diallel cross between nine cultivars showed significant differences in general combining ability (GCA) for flower bud abortion (including bud blasting and bud abscission) and leaf scorch. ‘Enchantment’ had the highest positive GCA for bud abortion, indicating a high sensitivity to low light conditions, while ‘Uncle Sam’ had the lowest GCA. Sensitivity to leaf scorch is significantly increased by using ‘Pirate’ and ‘Scout’ as parents. ‘Connecticut King’ was found to be a probable source of cytoplasmic male sterility.
Male sterility is associated with better response to low light conditions.
Out of 726 plants of mutated populations of ‘Enchantment’ and ‘Connecticut King’ grown under winter light conditions, 16 plants were selected.
These selections were tested on a clonal basis under controlled climate conditions.
The mutants of ‘Enchantment’ appeared to be significantly less sensitive for bud blasting (abortion in an early stage), not for bud abscission (abortion in a later stage). For the mutants of ‘Connecticut King’ just the reverse was found.