Study of the means of controlling the flowering time of Oncidium flexuosum Sims. and selection of plants for the reconstitution of uniform populations

• Grant number: 01/08442-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: January 01, 2002
• End date: October 31, 2004
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy
• Principal Investigator: Hiroshi Ikuta
• Grantee: Hiroshi Ikuta
• Company: Associação dos Floricultores da Região da Via Dutra (AFLORD)
• City: Arujá

Abstract

The are serious problems which affect the commercial production of the wild orchid Oncidium flexuosum. The first is the intercrop between the months of January and April. The company promoted production during this period by the use of methods of photoperiod control and pruning. Precisely because it is a wild orchid recently adapted to commercial cultivation, the Oncidium flexuosum displays great variability, especially in the flowering period. One of the important pieces of research undertaken in the first phase of the project dealt with the selection of plants and the reconstitution of different populations which possess a well-defined flowering period, from April to August. The work was carried out at a rather slow pace since it demanded a wide collection of materials from a variety of sources, production trials with repetition and, above all, personnel skilled in reproduction by means of meristematic cultures in the laboratory with suitable conditions and equipment. Based on data obtained from trials in phase 1, for phase 2 a project was designed to select plants from the phase 1 based on crossbreeding between 60 plants selected from different sources. 300 crosses will be carried out between them and it is intended to obtain 200 plants from each one, making a total of 60 thousand progeny. The intention is to analyze the DNA of the plants selected and verify the possibilities of determining the most favorable crosses to obtain the desire genotypes. The selected progeny will be propagated in vitro and will constitute the commercial cultivars that will be distributed to producers. (AU)