IN VITRO GERMINATION AND INDUCTION OF PROTOCORM-LIKE BODIES (PLBs) IN HYBRID PROGENIES WITH DENDROBIUM PIERARDII

• Grant number: 23/00462-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Floriculture, Parks and Gardens
• Principal Investigator: Jean Carlos Cardoso
• Grantee: Ana Carolina da Cruz Alves
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Agrárias (CCA). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Araras , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The market for flowers and ornamental plants is continuously expanding in Brazil and worldwide, among which orchids (Orchidaceae) are the main product of the pot flowers market. The orchid genetic improvement program, carried out at UFSCar, has as its main objectives the use of species still little explored and of ornamental potential, in the improvement and development of new cultivars. Also, it seeks to select horticultural characteristics of great relevance in the crops, which reduce costs and increase the sustainability of production systems, such as the early cycle, greater durability of flowers and production of compact and pending plants. In orchids of the genus Dendrobium, a group of great value in the world flower market, the use of hanging and fragrant Dendrobium cultivars is still little explored, being that the species Den. pierardii, Den. anosmum, Den. primulinum and Den. loddigesii could integrate breeding programs for these traits. Thus, the main objectives of the present work are to evaluate the viability of obtaining and segregating the characteristics of hybrid progenies obtained in crosses between these species. At the same time, experiments will be conducted aiming at the induction of protocorm-like structures (PLBs) in the obtained progenies, in order to obtain an efficient cloning method for this group of plants, still little explored and known in the flower market. As main novelties, the realization of these experiments will advance in the knowledge about reproductive biology and segregation of characteristics of interest of these orchids, in the obtaining of hybrid progenies with market potential, and in the development of an in vitro cloning technique to be applied in the hybrids or cultivars obtained and selected in the genetic improvement program.