Gladiolus breeding at the Instituto Agronômico, Brazil, and the new cultivars ‘IAC Carmim’ and ‘IAC Paranapanema’.

Abstract

Gladiolus is a traditional ornamental crop in Brazil, as a cut flower for the domestic market, and more recently, the corm production as an important product for export. The Instituto Agronômico develops research on this culture since the 60´s. In the 70’s it was released a purple striped variety named ‘Itapetininga’ whose commercial value does not persist nowadays. By the end of the 80’s, the breeding program restarted with two main goals: selection of new varieties tolerant or resistant to rust (Uromyces transversalis) and the search for new products, which means, varieties with different colors, forms, and designs. In this paper, two new released varieties are described: ‘IAC Carmim’ and ‘IAC Paranapanema’. Both are hybrids selected among the plants cultivated at Capão Bonito Experimental Station, a unit of the Instituto Agronômico. They are very rustic and vigorous plants. The bulbs have been distributed to the growers mainly from the Southwest region of São Paulo State. Twenty-five other pre-selected hybrids are under field multiplication. In the coming years, it will be possible to release new varieties, obtained from controlled pollination, which promise to be very good selections viewing the replacement of the old ones.Additional keywords: Gladiolus X grandiflorus Hort.; Gladiolus aff. dalenii; variety; selection; bulbous plant; corm.