Boronia heterophylla is cultivated for cut flower production. Three cultivars dominate production, ‘Red’, ‘Cameo’, and ‘Moonglow’. A variety of colors and an extended flowering period are demanded by local and overseas markets. The aim of this study was to develop procedures for a Boronia heterophylla breeding program through intraspesific hybridization. This may yield progeny with desirable characteristics, ideally increased vigor, and a range of flower colors and flowering times. Nine pollinat

IDA AYU ASTARINI (1Biology Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Udayana University)
GUIJUN YAN (Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Western Australia)
JULIE ANNE PLUMMER (Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Western Australia)

HAYATI Journal of Biosciences
Vol. 18 No. 3 (2011): September 2011

Boronia heterophylla is cultivated for cut flower production. Three cultivars dominate production, ‘Red’, ‘Cameo’, and ‘Moonglow’. A variety of colors and an extended flowering period are demanded by local and overseas markets. The aim of this study was to develop procedures for a Boronia heterophylla breeding program through intraspesific hybridization. This may yield progeny with desirable characteristics, ideally increased vigor, and a range of flower colors and flowering times. Nine pollination combinations were attempted, each self pollination and all reciprocal crosses. Seed set varied from 17 to 95%. Embryo rescue (was employed to produce hybrid plants using half strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal media and it was most successful (75%) 5-6 weeks after pollination. All shoots multiplied on media containing MS salts + NAA (0.1 mg/l) + BA (0.4 mg/l). All shoots transferred to medium containing half strength MS salts + NAA (4 mg/l) produced roots. Plantlets were acclimatized to sterile potting mix (in a small chamber within a glass house. This intraspecific hybridization system was very successful and plants were obtained for all pollination treatments except for selfed ‘Moonglow’. Embryo rescue may provide a system for germinating other species with difficult to germinate or dormant seed.