Studies on the Compatibility of Interspecific Hybridization between Wild Lilies and Cultivated Lilies

Purpose In order to explore the potential value of wild lily for improving lily cultivars.

Method Five main cultivars and six wild species with excellent traits were used as experimental materials to study the compatibility of interspecific hybridization, which was done by cutting style, embryo rescue.

Result The average rate of ovary swelling was 68.4% 64.7%, 56.5%, 80.9%, 39.6%, 62.7% respectively and the hybrids were obtained from 7 crossing combinations when each wild lily - Lilium lancifoluim, L. amoenum, L. henryi, L. davidi var. unicdor, L. rosthornii, L. taliense as the male parent crossed with 5 popular cultivars - Siberia, Sorbonne, Viviana, ConcaD’or, Robina as the female parent.

Conclusion The crossing combinations of L. rosthornii and L. lancifoluim were easier to get embryo seed than others. L. amoenum with scent had a good compatibility with oriental lily cultivars. All crossings of wild lilies and cultivars had a high ovary swelling rate, but the embryo development was very poor, which suggested ovary swelling didn’t represent seed-setting. So ovary swelling rate is not the only index to evaluate the compatibility of distant hybridization. The ovary swelling rate, embryo germination rate and hybrids’ survival rate should be integrated into the evaluation of distant hybridization compatibility.