Reproductive biology of Rhodophiala bifi da (Amaryllidaceae): applica- tion aspects in breeding.

Abstract

Rhodophiala bifida is a bulbous species native to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The size and color of its flowers make it very attractive for ornamental cultivation. The development of domestication and breeding protocols are essential to propose it as a new crop, considering that the global floricultural industry requires novelties. As a starting point, compatibility and reproductive efficiency studies were carried out through controlled crosses considering phenotypes of flowers of different color. Both self-pollination and cross-pollination produced fruits, so a mixed reproductive system was verifi ed in R. bifida. Reproductive efficiency was significantly higher in cross-pollination than in self-pollination, being 49.6 and 19 respectively, for red flowers, the most representative genotype of the population. No fruiting was observed in emasculated flowers without pollination, so autonomous apomixis was ruled out. The crossings among phenotypes produced fruits except for the case of crossings between pink by fuchsias flowered phenotypes.