CHRYSANTHEMUM BREEDING

• S.N: Dendranthema grandiflora

Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat
• Family: Compositae/Asteracea
• Origin: China and Asia
• Greek words: Chrysos = Golden, Anthos = flower
• Golden coloured flower
• “Queen of East”
• Symbol of Royalty

In India chrysanthemum occupies a place of pride both as a commercial crop and as a

popular exhibition flower. Second largest cut flower grown all over the globe. It has a wide
range of type, size and colour and also „forms‟. Short day plant – „Photo sensitive‟ (10 hours
day light)

Importance and uses

 The decorative and fluffy bloomed small-flowered cultivars are ideal for garland
making and hair decoration.
 The extra large-bloomed cultivars for their exhibition value.
 Tall growing type suitable for background planting in borders.
 Dwarf growing for flower beds and pot culture (pot mums)
 Loose flowers – garland, veni, worship etc.
 Long stem flowers – cut flowers for Bouquet,
 Chrysanthemum morifolium is also an important source of essential oil and
sesquiterpenoid alcohol.
 Certain species like Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium and C. coccineum are also
cultivated as sources of pyrethrum, an important insecticide.

Origin and History

 It originated in China.
 Species involved in the development are C.sinense, C.indicum, C.japonicum, C.ornatum.

In China: The earliest mention of chrysanthemum was recorded by Confucius.

In Japan:
 Chrysanthemum was proclaimed as the National Flower by emperor Uda in the year
910 AD
 At present cherry blossom is the National Flower and chrysanthemum the symbol of
Royalty in Japan.
 Japan also has a national Chrysanthemum day, which is called festival of
happiness
In Europe

 In 1690, Rheede described a Holland – grown type from India called Gul daudi.
 In France, it primarily remained as cemetery flower.
 In England, the emphasis was on exhibitions
 National Chrysanthemum Society of England lists more than 5000 cultivars.
In USA

 The first chrysanthemum known to the USA was „Dark Purple‟ imported by a
scientist John Stevens in 1798.
 The National Chrysanthemum Society of America was founded in 1890, consisting
exclusively of commercial growers, at New York.
 The Netherlands is the foremost importer of chrysanthemum.

In India

 In North India, chrysanthemum is primarily grown for landscape gardening either in

the ground or in pots.
 In Southern part of the country, it is mostly grown as loose flowers for garland, hair
decoration by women and offerings to god.
 In India, being successfully grown under protected as well as open conditions.

Classification

The species of the genus Chrysanthemum are annual, perennial herbs, sometimes partly
woody. The genus Chrysanthemum belongs to the family Compositae / Asteraceae.

Class 1. Single
 Ray florets in a single row at right angles to the stem.
 Disc is flat to slightly rounded and may be of contrasting colours,
 e.g., Potomac.

Class 2. Semi-double

 Ray florets in more than one row at right angles to the stem but may curve
downward at the tips.
 Disc as in class 1.

Class 3. Anemone

 Ray florets variable, from flattened, broad and equal in length to reflexing, pointed at
tip and unequal in length.
 Disc florets are numerous tube-like and elongated so as to form a prominent disc
which may range from flat to hemispherical in form.

Class 4. Pompon
 Bloom globular, somewhat flat in young stage or small button type.
 Ray florets broad, incurved, smooth and firm with good substance.
Class 5. Incurve
 Breadth and depth should be equal to produce a globular bloom.
 Ray florets narrow to broad, smooth and incurve in a regular to an irregular manner
without producing an open centre,
e.g., Snow Ball, Mountaineer, Nob Hill.

Class 6. Reflexing incurve

 Ray florets usually broad and smooth.
 Breadth and depth nearly equal to form a globular bloom, sometimes flattened, may
be less compact than incurve.
 All mature florets not completely incurving and not all completely reflexed.
 The lower florets sometimes reflexing to give a skirted effect, e.g., Dream Castle,
Indianapolis.

Class 7. Decorative
 Ray florets from short and broad to narrow, long and pointed, they generally reflex,
although upper florets may tend to incurve.
 Blooms more flattened than globular,
e.g., Otome Pink, Princess Anne.

Class 8. Reflex
 Bloom globular with equal depth and breadth and a full centre, or somewhat
flattened.
 Ray florets narrow to broad, gracefully overlapping in either a regular or in an
irregular manner and reflexed.
e.g., Coronation Pink.

Based on the size, shape of flower, arrangements of florets and purpose used, the
chrysanthemums are classified into several groups.
• I. Small flowered types.
• II. Large flowered types
• III. Classification based on plant growth
• IV. Based on usage.
I. Small Flowered

• Singles – The petals are arranged in one or not more than five rows with prominent
central disc.

• Anemones – Prominent centrally raised hemispherical cushiony disc florets

surrounded by short rounded or flat or twisted or quilled ray florets. Ex. Golden
sands, White sands.

• Korean single – Small flowers with a prominent central disc, ray florets are flat,
number of whorls or ray florets are five and less than five. Ex: Cardinal, Gul-e-
Sahir, Chairman.
 • Korean double – The number of whorls of ray florets are more than five and the
central disc is open. Ex: Flirt, Man Bhawan.

• Spoon – The outer ray florets are tubular with a spatula or spoon like opening at the
tips. Ex: Anokha.

• Decorative – Fully double flowers with flat petals and central disc is generally absent
or not seen, ray florets are longer. Ex: Aretic, Elegance, Blue chip, Dolly.

• Quilled – Small flowers, ray florets are tubular. Ex: Golden crystal, Snow crystal.

• Button – Very compact, small flowers, produce numerous flowers. Ex: Golden dust.

• Pompon – The flowers small, freely opened, compact, hemispherical or ball shape,
the central disc is concealed or absent, florets neatly arranged. Ex: Apsara,
Jayanthi, Lameo, Dandy, Eve.

II. Large flowered types

• Incurved regular – The outer ray florets curve upwards and inwards towards the disc
florets to forma globular shape. Ex: Snow ball, Sonar Bangla, Chandrama.

• Incurve irregular – The outer ray florets incurve loosely and irregularly and do not
from a ball as in case of regular.

• Refluxed – The outer ray florets curved outwards and downward away from the
centre so that only their upper surface is seen. Ex: Cresta, City Beauty, Golden
Rule, Day dream, Peach blossom, Sweet Heart.

• Intermediate – The inner florets incurved and outer florets are refluxed, they are
intermediate in shape to incurved and refluxed. Ex: John Reid, Lady Hope town.

• Spider – The outer ray florets are large, elongated, tubular and curved to form a hook
or coil like structure at the tip of the petals. Ex: Rupasi Bangla, Mahatma Ganthi.

• Quill – The outer ray florets are elongated, straight and tubular like a quill with tips
open but not flattened.

• Exhibition - The outer florets are refluxed and inner florets incurred, the ray florets
are generally twisted, irregularly overlapped each other and looks attractive.

• Ball type – Ray florets are straight and radiated in all directions to give a complete
ball shape.

III. Classification based on plant growth

• Standards – plants with single flower, other buds are removed if arise from the
laterals and produce big flower.

• Spray – The main apex bud is removed and lateral buds are allowed.
 • Pot mums – Small flowered mums with 6-9” height are beautiful in decorating the
places.

IV. Based on usage

• 1. Cut flowers –
i) Disbudded inflorescence
ii) Spray inflorescence
• 2. Loose flowers
• 3. Potted/bed plants

Species and cultivars

The genus Dendranthema comprises of about 300 species
• Some important species of chrysanthemum are:
• x=9 (2n=18 to 90)
 Chrysanthemum boreale : Abura – Giku (florists chrysanthemum)
 C. carinatum : Tricolour chrysanthemum
 C. coronarium : Garland chrysanthemum
 C. cinerariifolium : pyrethrum
 C. rubellum : sturdy, hardiness
 C. satsumense : Satsuma-nogiku
 C. sibiricum
• D indicum: florist chrysanthemum

• D maximum : perennial grown for cut flowers of whit and yellow color

• D japonicum : Ornamental plant

• D morifolium : Hybrid species, perennial, known as florist chrysanthemum

• D ornatum : involved in the development of florist chrysanthemum, with white

centered yellow colored flowers

Breeding

• Chrysanthemum – Compositae

• second largest family among flowering plants comprising about 20,000 species,
largest being Orchidaceae.

• The large number of flowers are arranged on flattened axis to form a compact floral
head which looks like a single bloom .

• The individual flowers are called florets and are of two types.

• The outer ones are called ray florets and are unisexual with only female parts while
the inner ones are called disc florets-hermoprodite

• C. morifolium is a hybrid species.

 • Several elemental species namely C. sinerise, C. indicum, C. japonicum, C. omatum,
C. satsumense and C. boreale are believed to have contributed towards its
development.

BREEDING METHODS

• The origin of each of the chrysanthemum cultivar grown in India can be traced to
either of the three modes of varietal upgrading viz.,

– Introduction,

– Hybridization

– Mutation.

• The main agencies responsible for varietal improvement are

– individual enthusiasts,

– nurserymen,

– Chrysanthemum Society of India or

– breeders working in research institutes and

– agricultural universities.

Research Centres working on Chrysanthemum

 NBRI, Lucknow
 IIHR, Bengaluru
 IARI, New Delhi
 PAU, Ludhiana
 BCKV, Kalyani
 TNAU, Coimbatore
DUS nodal centres- IIHR, IARI

Flower Morphology and Biology

• Individual florets of chrysanthemum are small but collectively they form a capitulum.

• The capitulum is surrounded by a small green colored bracts within which ray and
disc florets are arranged marginally and in the center.

• The ray florets are female and flat corolla is fixed in a tube.

• Disc florets are hermophrodite.

• The ray florets are more in double inflorescence , while the disc florets are in single
inflorescence.

• Mode of pollination:
 • Cross pollinated crop.

• The length of the ray florets act as a mechanical barrier for pollination.

• Maximum pollination occurred around 11.00 am , however the effective pollination

time was recorded between 7.00 am to 11.00am

Breeding objectives

• The objective of breeding has been different at different places.

• At IIHR, the emphasis had been on breeding high yielding cultivars for garland
purpose or pot culture.

• At PAU in addition to the above, efforts were directed towards cut flower type also.
The emphasis of nurseryman and individual breeders in east India has been on
breeding exhibition varieties.

• At NBRI the aim is to development of exhibition and cut flower type and garland type
was to widen the germ plasm base by incorporating those characters which head been
missing among cultivars grown in India but found elsewhere in the world.

The main aim was development of novelty types for the shows.

• Now ,other qualities like

• winter hardiness,

• earliness,

• floriferousness and

• resistance to diseases became more important

• Cultivars with

• low temperature requirement,

• having rapid growth following a short period of long days,

• small to medium leaves to enable close planting

• and with stem length of at least 80 cm are preferable.

• Pollen-free cultivars have been reported to be desirable by Broertjes and Jong (1983)
as pollens spoil the appearance and also induce allergic reactions during handling.

• Other important qualities sought after by the present-day breeders are

• uniform response to environment,

• suitability for use over longer periods than their own natural season,
 • long storage life,

• compact and dwarf growth habit (for pot culture),

• free suckering and easy rooting habit.

• Cultivars with no vernalization requirement are preferred for year round growing
programme.

• A new cultivar must be acceptable to all sections of the industry, the propagator, the
flower grower, the wholesaler and the retailer and the consumer.

For a cut flower

• Long, strong and straight stem

• Tough florets
• Uniform bloom
• Attractive color
• Resistant to pest and disease
• Healthy leaves
• Earliness
• Long Vase life

Pot Variety

• Compact and dwarf plants

• More number of branches
• Uniform spreading of branches
• Uniform blooming
• Good color retention quality
• Healthy leaves

Garland variety
• Diameter of bloom (5.00 cm)
• Fluffy blooms
• Invisible disc
• Quality of recover from pressure
• High yielding
• Good color retention
• Specially yellow and white colored varietes.
• Long blooming season, pollenless bloom
• Varieties tolerant to water logged conditions
• Varietes suited for extended blooming

Breeding methods
• Introduction
• Selection
 • Hybridization
• Mutation
• Biotechnology

Names of some well-known cultivars grown in India have been given below

Country from which Introduced/or originated Name of cultivar

• Australia `J.S. LLoyd', 'Louisa Pockette', Willium Turner' and T.W. Pockette„

• France 'Gloria Deo', 'SI. Andre Reffaud', and 'Sancho„

• Japan 'Ajina Purple', ' Kenroku Kangiku', `Kiku Biori',`Taiho Tozan',

'Tokyo', 'Shin Mei Getsu', `Senkyo Emaki‟ and 'Otome Zakura'.

• New Zealand Gusman Red', 'Icicles', 'Jane Sharpe', 'Orange Fair Lady; and 'Nancy
Ferneaux'.

• United Kingdom 'Alfred Wilson', 'Alfred Simpson', `Balcombe Perfection',

'Beatrice May', 'May Shoesmith', 'Maurice White', 'Leviathan', 'Pink
Cloud', Princess Anne' and 'Woolman Century'.

• United States 'Casa Grande', 'Mountaineer', 'Nob Hill', 'Snow Ball„ Potomac' and
'Peacock'.

Selection
• From OP seedlings for evolution
Example:
• Rakee (IIHR): Lord Doonex
• Appu (NBRI): Original Dwarf
• Apsara (NBRI): Nanako
• Apurva Singar: Double Korean
• Birbal Sahani: NBRI
• Haldi Ghati: Oroginal Dwarf
• Jayanthi: Nanako
• Jubille: Nanako
• Maghi, Mother Teresa
• Sharad Singar
• Chandrakant, Pankaj (IIHR)
• Pusa Aditya – Jaya
• Pusa Chitraksha- Lal pari
• Pusa Sona- Sadbhavana

Hybridization

• Being cross pollinated crop, new varieties arise mainly as seedlings obtained either by
natural or conscious cross-pollination.
The hybridization technique is given below

• Selection of parents: Select male and female parents depending on characters desired
to be combined.

• Emasculation: Clip anthers of disc florets before dehiscence in blooms of female

parent and cover them with wax-paper bag to prevent natural pollination.

• Trim long ray florets in female parent to expose stigma. This is done in stages as the
florets open centripetally starting from outermost whorl. Expose only ripe stigma (as
indicated by sticky substance on lobes).

• Pollination: Collect pollen from male parent in petri dish. Dust pollen on stigma of
female parent after temporarily opening wax bags.

• Bagging: Tie the bags giving details of male and female parents.

• Remove the paper bags after all stigmas wilt.

• Collect the seeds when completely dry (1-2 months after pollination) and store in
dry place.

A list of Indian bred cultivars is given below

Bred by IIHR, Bangalore

1. 'Indira' (1980); A hybrid between an open pollinated seedling of Lord Doonex' (LO
114) and a hybrid seedling of 'Flirt' x 'Valentine'.

2. 'Rakhi' (1980); An open pollinated seedling of cultivar 'Lord Doonex'.

3. 'Red Gold' (1980); A cross between 'Flirt' x 'Valentine'

4. I. I.H.R.—Se1-5 ; Superior seedling selection bearing pink blooms

5. IIHR-sel 6; Superior seedling selection bearing white blooms„

IIHR Selection-5' and IIHR Selection-6' have been reported to be good for loose flower
purpose and high yielding (Negi, 1992).

Bred by P.A.U., Ludhiana

• `Gul-E-Sahir„ An October blooming yellow flowered variety

• `Santi A white fluffy flowered variety suitable for garland and is reported to be high
yielding

• Basanif Yellow sport of 'Santi'

• `Baggi' White pompon suitable as cut-flower

Bred by NBRI, Lucknow

• Pompons:

– There was dearth of good pompons in India till the year 1972.

– Realizing this lacuna a Japanese pompon 'Nanako' was introduced.

– Seedlings obtained from this cultivar have given rise to a series of very high
quality pompon varieties.

– These varieties are most suitable for cut flower purpose by virtue of their
attractive form and long vase life

• 'Birbal Sahni' (1976) White flowered seedling of 'Nanako'

• 'Apsara' (1977) Another seedling of 'Nanako' with rosy flush on white flower

• `Jayanti' (1979) Yellow seedling of `Nanako' suitable for garland and cut flower
purpose

• 'Jubilee' (1980) Orange red flowers

• 'Kundan' (1980) Yellow seedling of `Jayanti' with brighter blooms suitable both
for garland and cut flowers.

• 'Maghi' (1989) Pink pompon blooms in January at Lucknow

No pinch no stake types

• Traditional small flowered varieties need lot of training by way of pinching and
staking which calls for knowledge and skill to produce neat bushes.

• It is labour intensive also.

• A new series of dwarf varieties have been developed at NBRI, Lucknow which do
not need any pinching or staking and their plants naturally assume round mound
shape.

• These are all open pollinated seedling selections from a chance seedling 'original
dwarf' obtained in the year 1976

• `Sharad Singar' (1977) Flowers yellow with bronze stripes

• 'Hemant Singar' (1981) Majenta flowered

• `Suhag Singar' (1981) Red flowered

• 'Arun Singar' (1982) Flowers red striped, leaves variegated

• 'Appu' (1982) Flowers double and purple

Mini varieties
• Apurva
• Appu
• Haldighati
• Peet singar
• Sweet singar
• White charm

Out-of-season blooming type :

• The blooming season, in traditional cultivars grown in India for centuries, lasts hardly
6 weeks in northern region.

• This is because of the specific photoperiodic and temperature requirement of

these cultivars.

• Efforts to breed varieties which naturally bloom out of this 6 weeks period were
undertaken in 1972 at N.B.R.I., Lucknow.

• During the last 20 years, varieties have been bred which naturally bloom in different
months from April to March under Lucknow conditions as given below

Name of variety Natural blooming time Year of release

• 'Himanshu', 'Usha' April-May/2nd flush in October 1982, 1980
• Uwala', 'May-day' May-June/2nd flush in Oct-November 1981
• `Tushar', 'Jyoti' June-July/2nd flush in November 1982, 1980
• 'Meghdoot', 'Phuhar' July-August 1982
• 'Sharada', 'Ajaya' Sept-October 1978, 1990
• `Sharad Mala' October 1976
• 'Sharad Singar', Oct-November 1977,1988
'Haldi-Ghati'
• 'Vasantika', 'Jaya' Dec-January 1980
• 'Maghi' January-February 1989

• The major implication of development of these varieties is that one can obtain
blooms of chrysanthemum almost round the year just by planting right type,
without resorting to environment control.

• Blooms have to be given a little protection during rainy season to prevent spoilage

Mutation Breeding
• Pioneering work on induction of somatic mutation in chrysanthemum by using a
Co60 radioactive gamma irradiation source has been done at N.B.R.I., Lucknow,
• resulting in the development of about 40 mutant cultivars strikingly different from
their parents.
 • The main advantage of this method lies in changing one or few characters of an
otherwise outstanding cultivar without altering the remaining, and often unique,
part of the genotype.
• The most suitable dose of gamma rays for inducing mutation in chrysanthemum
ranged between 1.5 and 2.5 krads (Gupta and Jugran, 1978; Gupta and Shukla,
1971).
• The names of parents and their induced mutants have been listed below along with the
changes occurred in each (Datta, 1988) :
Bloom colour change Parent to
Name of parent Name of mutant mutant
Small flowered
1. D-5 1. Agnishikha Magnolia Purple Red
1. Alankar Orange
2. E-13 1. Lohit Mauve Reddish
1. Kapish Mauve Brownish
1. Anamika Mauve Light Red
2. Basanti Mauve Yellow
3. Megami 7. Hemanti Pink Chinese Yellow
4. Flirt 8. Manbhavan Red Red and Yellow
1. Himani 3. Subarna Red Yellow
2. Ratna 4. Sheela White Yellow
Kalyani Mauve 11. Sonali Red Yellow
8. Sharad Mala 12. Navneet Mauve Creamy
9. Surekha 1. Sharad Har White Yellow
1. Surekha Yellow Ruby Yellow
Large Flowered
10. Hope 15. Asha Pink Creamish
11. Undaunted 16. Kanak Bright Dark Brown
Mauve
17 Nirbhaya Bright Lighter Mauve
Mauve
18 Sawrnim Bright Light Brown
Mauve
19. Shefali Bright Reddish
Mauve
12. Ashankit 20. Aruna Bright Dark Red
Mauve
1. Paul 21 Basant Terracotta Yellow
1. Belur Math 22. Gairik Pink Salmon
15. Rose Day 23. Kansya Rosy Pink Bronze
16. Pink Casket 24. Pingal Rosy Pink Bronze
17. Kansya 25. Pitaka Bronze Yellow
18. Otome Zakura 1. Purnima Pink White (Fig 6)
1. Pitamber Pink Yellow
19. King Ford 1. Rohit Purple Red
Smith
King Ford 1. Taruni Purple Azalia Pink
Smith
20. Mrs. H. Gubby 30. Shukla Mauve White
21. Fish Tail 31. Shveta Mauve White
22. Goldie 32. Tamra Apricot Copper Red
23. M-24 33. Kum Kum Lilac Garnet Red

• National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) have developed and released a new
variety of Chrysanthemum that blooms during late December to mid-February and
have named it „Shekhar‟.

• This is a late blooming decorative type, floriferous chrysanthemum variety which

bears mauve colored flowers. It attains the height up to 60 cms and have captiulum
dia (diameter across) up to 9-9.5 cms. This particular variety is radically diverging
and has semi-quill florets that give the flower a unique dome-shaped crown like
appearance

• “The new variety has been developed through mutation induction by gamma
irradiation of „Su-Neel‟ which is its somatic parent variety” told Dr Arvind Jain,
senior scientist, NBRI.

Sports

• Good number of outstanding chrysanthemums cultivars in the world have arisen as

natural mutants commonly called 'sports'.

• Some such sports have originated in India too and are listed below along with the
name of original cultivar, character changed and place where change occurred
 Place of occurrence
Original cultivar Sport Character changed
with year
Mahatma Gandhi Kasturba Gandhi Mauve to White Allahabad in 1961
Snow Ball Sonar Bangla White to Yellow Kalyani (W.B.) in 70's
Pink Cloud White Cloud Pink to White West Bengal in 70's
Sharad Shobha Sharada White to Yellow Lucknow in 1978
Casa Grande Queen of Tamluk White to Yellow Tamluk (W.B.) in 1985
S.S. Arnold R. Venkataraman White to Yellow New Delhi 1991

IARI
• Pusa Anmol- from Ajay (Gamma)
• Pusa Centenary- from Thai Chen Queen
• Pusa Arunodya -from Thai Chen Queen
• Pusa Kesari -from Thai Chen Queen

Biotechnology
• Somaclonal variation
• Molecular breeding
• Genetic engineering
• Disease resistance- White rust,
• Insect resistance – Leaf Minr, Bud Borer

Chrysanthemum (From IIHR)

• Arka Swarna: A cross between „Nanako x CO–1‟. This hybrid bears Yellow pompon
flowers. It is found superior in respect of plant height, number of flowers per plant,
flower size, flower weight,flower yield per plant and flowering duration. This is
suitable for both cutand loose flower purposes.

• Arka Ravi: Itis a cross between Mundial and Hybrid 87-17-1, flowers in 102 days
which isearlier than local varieties. Flowers are semi-double type, each being in 6
cmdiameter. It produces 130 flowers per plant. Flowers are attractive peach in
colour. It has a vase life of 12 days. Flowers can be used for cut flower purpose.

• Arka Ganga: Bears attractivedouble Korean white flowers with pink tinge. Flower
yield is higher than LocalWhite variety. Suitable for both loose and cut flower
purposes.

• Chandrakant: Flowers are decorative, white in colour, takes 124 days to flower. It is
dwarf with a plant height of 39cm. On an average, flower diameter is4.7 cm and
weighs about 1.85 g. It is floriferous and produces 149 flowers withan yield of 272 g
 per plant, it produces about 2 times more yield than thelocal white variety, flowers are
more attractive and can be used as looseflower.

• Chandrika: A white floweredhybrid obtained by crossing Angela x GP1. It produces

decorative flowers. Ittakes 92 days to flower. Number of flowers per plant is 130,
which is 3.7 timesmore than the local white variety. It can also be used as cut flower.
Its shelflife is 7 days and vase life 10.8 days. It can also be used in
flowerarrangement, bouquets, can also be used as loose flowers for Pooja and
floraldecoration.

• ‘Indira’ is a cross betweenan open pollinated seedling of „Lord Donex‟ LD-14

(imperial purple) and ahybrid seedling of „Flirt‟ x „Valentine‟ F x V-1 (beet root
purple). It flowers in three months. The flowers aredouble Koreans,, yellow at bud
stage and butter cup yellow at picking stage,fading to aureolin. Each flower is 5 cm in
diameter. Produces about 300 gflowers per plant under field conditions. It is a good
multiplier and can be multiplied through cuttings. Idealfor cut flower purpose,
religious offerings, wreaths, bedding and potting.

• Kirti: It is a hybrid between Angela x G.P.1. It flowers early (88days). It bears white
coloured double Korean type of flowers, which fade to a pink tinge. It is floriferous
and produces 119 flowers per plant. It yields 168g of flowers per plant, which is 1.71
times more than the Local white. Itsshelf life is 7.5 days. It is dwarf (34.5 cm),
spreading (41.1 cm) and compact.Therefore suitable for bedding and potting
purposes; besides, the flowers canalso be used for floral decoration.

• Nilima: Hybrid produced by cross cvs „Flirt‟ x„Valentine‟. It takes 116 days to
flower. It bears purple coloured decorative flowers whose diameter is 4.86 cm and
average flower weighs 1.96 g. It is floriferous and bears 144 flowers per plant. On an
average its flower yield is 281 g per plant. suitable for cutflower (spray type) purpose
having vase life of 14 days. Flowers are compact and are good for loose flower
purpose in floral decoration.

• Pankaj: It flowers early and takes about 114 days to bloom. It bears pink, attractive
flowers which are decorative type. Diameter of flower is 4.8 cm which weight 2.68 g.
I is high yielding and; produces 140flowers with an yield of 363 g per plant. Its
attractive flowers on stiff stalk makes them suitable for cut flower purpose. Loose
flowers can be used for floral decoration.

• Rakhee: is an open pollinated seedling of „Lord Donex‟(Super yellow with purple

stripes). Itflowers in 3 months. The flowers are anemone primrose yellow with red
stripes on ray florets, each of 5 cm diameter. Plants are bushy, compact with shiny
leaves. Produces about 125 flowers in beds but around 100 flowers in pots. It is a
good multiplier, is good for potting, veni and religious offerings.

• Ravikiran: One of the hybrid produced by crossing cvs„Flirt‟ x „Valentine‟. It takes

122 days to flower. This hybrid is anovelty. It looks like a papery flower.The flower
 type is stellate. Its flower diameter is 6.12 cm and flower weighs2.48 g. It produces 86
flowers per plant. Flower is grey-red and fading togrey-orange. It is suitable as cut
flower and can be used in flower vases or inbouquets. It has a vase life of 12 days.

• Red Gold: is a cross between „Flirt‟ (Current red) x„Valentine‟; (amethyst

violet). Itflowers in 4 months. Flowers areinitially greyish-orange and fade to golden
yellow, double Koreans, 5 cmdiameter. Flowers profusely produced atan average of
400 g flowers per plant, can be used for cut flower purpose; goodfor bedding, potting,
wreaths and for religious offerings.

• Usha Kiran: Aninduced mutant of IIHR cv. Kirti, with more plant height and spread
compared toCv. Kirti. The floral traits were at par with the cv. Kirti, but the
flowercolour of mutant is yellow. Mutant is dwarf, compact and spreading and
foundsuitable for bedding/ potting and loose flower purposes as it has a shelf lifeof 7
days as against 5 days in Kirti. The flowers are semi- double with prominent disc

• YellowGold: This is a yellow flowered induced mutant ofthe red flowered variety
„Flirt‟ obtained by gamma irradiation. On an average,it takes 140 days to flower. It
bears yellow coloured decorative flowers whosediameter is 5.26 cm and weighs 2.16
g. Petals has Brick Red coloured stripes. Itproduces 113 flowers per plant. Flower
yield is 244 g per plant; good for looseflower purpose but also suitable for cut
flower (spray type) purpose with avase life of 14 days.

• Yellow Star: It is a yellowflowered cultivar. Flowers are decorative, with average

diameter of 4.33 cm. Ittakes 140 days to flower. It produces150 flowers per plant. It
is high yielding and produces 272 g flowers perplant, which is 1.3 times more than in
the local yellow variety. Flowers can beused as cut flower, in flower arrangement and
as loose flowers for garlands,floral decorations.