Study of the Female Fertility of an Odd-tetraploid of Lilium and Its Potential Breeding Significance

Abstract

The primary objective of this research was to study the female fertility of the odd-tetraploid cultivar Honesty of Lilium containing one set of Longiflorum chromosomes and three sets of Asiatic chromosomes (LAAA) to open a new approach to Lilium breeding. To assess its female fertility, ‘Honesty’ was hybridized with four autotetraploid Asiatic lily cultivars. The results showed that the fruit of all ‘Honesty’ × tetraploid (4x × 4x) combinations developed well, and viable seedlings could be obtained, suggesting that ‘Honesty’, despite being male-sterile, has considerable female fertility. Genomic in situ hybridization showed that the progenies of the 4x × 4x hybridizations were aneuploid. Considering that lily is vegetatively propagated and aneuploids often demonstrate considerable phenotypic variation, odd-tetraploid lilies such as ‘Honesty’ may be useful maternal parents for breeding new lily cultivars.