Transgenics in ornamental crops: Creating novelties in economically important cut flowers

Abstract

Development of transgenics is the need of the modern era of plant breeding, as they possess the potential to incorporate those characters in crop varieties which are either difficult or impossible through conventional breeding approaches. In case of ornamental crops, the progress made in transgenic breeding is not that impressive like in cereals, pulses and vegetables, but the initiatives taken and advancements made have implicated the bright future of this technology in ornamental crops. Improved morphology, flower colour, resistance and fragrance are some of the desired novel traits in ornamental crops where transgenic approaches need to intervene. Transgenic breeding in major cut-flower crops like rose, chrysanthemum, gladiolus and carnation has provided avenues for incorporation of novel traits in other ornamental crops as well and has made such crops an ideal target for application of other advanced technologies.