Breeding of woody ornamental plants (BEST-SELECT)

This project creates a tiglet link between breeding research on woody ornamental plants and the breeders’ economic reality. BEST-select cvba is a cooperative organization of 20 growers who finance this long-term breeding research at ILVO. The focus is mainly on species as Hydrangea, Buddleja, Hibiscus, Viburnum, Ligustrum and rose. In these species the current challenges for the breeding research are: 1) to select new cultivars with aberrant growth habit, leaf and flower colours;  2) to develop compact growing plants suitable for smaller gardens; 3) to create plants with better resistance to diseases and pests to reduce pesticide use and 4) to design sterile plants to avoid unwanted proliferation (for ornamental plants which are listed as invasive plant species).

These ornamental plants are mostly bred using interspecific crosses, meaning plants which belong to the same genus but are different species. This is often not possible without novel techniques such as in vitro protocols including embryo rescue. We employ chromosome doubling  to cross plants with a different ploidy level. When researching disease resistance, we focus on the development of artificial infection protocols as well as understanding the plant-pathogen interaction. Finally we do a thorough screening and selection in the field.  The disease resistance research is mainly focused on roses.

The breeding programme for the so-called “attractive segment” of flowering shrubs is highly applicable due to the close cooperation with the growers. The new cultivars are introduced to the market by BEST-select cvba. This group also ensures adequate IP protection and provides recognizable plant labels and communication when releasing a new variety onto the market. To date, 18 ILVO cultivars can be found on the market. Some of these are also commercialized overseas by foreign licences. More information and description of these new plants can be found at www.bestselect.be.