Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, cilt.47, sa.5, ss.652-661, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
The success of rose breeding programs is low due to poor seed set and germination rate. Determining the combining ability of parents might increase breeding programs’ success. The study was conducted to determine the crossing success of ‘pot miniature rose × cut rose’ combinations. Four different pot miniature rose varieties as the seed parents, and four different cut roses as pollen parents were used as plant material. Eight cross combinations were formed, and 30 crosses were made in each combination. Pollen viability and germination rate, fruit set, seed number per fruit, fruit and seed weight, and seed germination rate were recorded. The pollen germination rate varied between 14.09% (‘Moonlight’) and 31.25% (‘Golden Gate’). Among cross combinations, the fruit set rate ranged from 0% to 83.33%, while the seed number was between 0 and 6.14, and the seed germination rate ranged from 0% to 47.5%. The best combinations were ‘Rosa Bling Love Star × Golden Gate’, ‘Rosa Bling Love Star x Magnum’, ‘Rosa Bling Love Star × Inferno’, and ‘Rosa Shining Star × Inferno’. Except for Hot Jewel as the seed parent, low values were obtained from the traits examined in all combinations where Moonlight was used as the pollen parent. There was a positive correlation between seed number, seed weight and fruit weight. There may be prepollination barriers in ‘pot miniature rose × cut rose’ crosses, but productive seeds and progenies are obtainable. The miniature roses can be successfully used as seed parents when combined with cut roses.