Breeding of Ornamental Crops: Bulbous Flowers

Flowers and other ornamental plants are used for all social occasions. Consumers’ preferences dictate the development of novel flower traits such as fragrance, flower color and shape, early flowering, less water consumption, and long shelf-life. The worldwide floricultural industry is worth over 50 billion Euros and can serve as a component of food security, influence socio-economic development, and generate employment. The ornamental industry is regarded as one of the fastest-growing farm industries. This industry is sustained through novelty, thus there is an increasing demand for plant breeders in both public and private sectors to fulfill consumers’ needs. Biotechnological approaches such as genetic transformation, genomics, nanobiotechnology, and gene editing are well suited for designing custom-made novel traits of flowers benefiting both the ornamental and cosmetic industries. Moreover, micropropagation is well exploited commercially for large-scale plant production along with vertical and digital farming, and artificial intelligence, especially by the floriculture industry.

This book focuses on advances in breeding strategies of bulbous flower ornamental plants. Each chapter, contributed by eminent authors, is devoted to an individual ornamental species or a group of related species. It provides an in-depth understanding of modern breeding strategies including traditional methods and biotechnological approaches. Topics covered in each chapter, in relation to the subject species, include current cultivation practices and challenges, germplasm biodiversity and conservation, traditional breeding, molecular breeding, tissue culture applications, genetic engineering and gene editing, mutation breeding, hybridization, and future research directions. Major concepts are illustrated with color photos.

Dr Muneeb Ahmad Wani is currently working as Assistant Professor cum Junior Scientist at Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, India. He holds PhD/MS in Floriculture and Landscape Architecture from SKUAST-Kashmir. He has done Post doctorate from Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab, India where he worked on propagation and expansion of high valued horticulture crops in non-traditional areas. He has six years of research, teaching and extension experience. He has authored more than 40 research articles, 05 review articles, 07 book chapters, 06 edited books (national/international). He is member of American Chemical Society, America Society for Horticultural Sciences, International Society for Horticultural Science, and an active member of GeneLab’s Plant AWG, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) since 2023. During his doctoral programme, he was recipient of prestigious MANF fellowship from University Grants Commission, Govt. of India. He is recipient of Himadri young scientist award from ISHRD and Fellow award from Society of Plant Research (Springer). In Addition to the number of publications in reputed journals, Dr Wani is actively involved as a reviewer and editorials in reputed publishing houses like Springer, Frontiers, Elsevier, and ISHS. His current area of research interest includes DUS (Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability) testing and germplasm screening, plant biotechnology, mutagenesis, and soilless cultivation.

Professor Jameel M. Al-Khayri is specialized in plant biotechnology and currently affiliated with the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. He received B.S. in Biology in 1984 from the University of Toledo, M.S. in Agronomy in 1988, and Ph.D. in Plant Science in 1991 from the University of Arkansas. He is a member the International Society for Horticultural Science and Society for In Vitro Biology as well as the National Correspondent of the International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology. He has authored 130 research articles in referred international journals, 80 chapters, and edited several journal special issues. In addition, he edited 30 reference books on plant biotechnology, genetic resources, breeding, genomics and nanotechnology. He has been involved in organizing international scientific conferences and contributed numerous research presentations. In addition to teaching, students advising and research, he held administrative responsibilities as the Assistant Director of Date Palm Research Center, Head of Department of Plant Biotechnology and Vice Dean for Development and Quality Assurance. Dr. Al-Khayri served as a Member of Majlis Ash Shura (Saudi Legislative Council) for the 2009-2012 term. Currently he is maintaining an active research program on date palm focusing in vitro culture, secondary metabolites production, genetic engineering and mutagenesis to enhance tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress.

Professor Shri Mohan Jain (Adjunct) is a Consultant and Plant Biotechnologist, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Received M. Phil, 1973 and Ph.D., 1978, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He was a postdoctoral fellow in Israel, USA, and visiting scientist/Professor in Japan, Malaysia, Germany, and Italy. He was a Technical Officer, Plant Breeding and Genetics, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria, 1999-2005. He is a member of International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology; editorial Board member of Euphytica, In Vitro, Propagation of Ornamental Plants, Emirates J. Food and Agriculture, and a series on Forest Biotechnology. His publications are more than 225 in peer reviewed journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings, and edited 72 books; invited speaker and acted as a Chairperson in several international conferences worldwide. He is a former consultant to IAEA, the European Union, The Government of Grenada, Iranian Private Company and the Egyptian Government. Currently his research interests are somatic embryogenesis, organogenesis, haploidy, somatic cell hybridization, somaclonal variation and mutagenesis mainly in medicinal plants, date palm, and banana genetic improvement, genetic diversity, erosion, conservation, and utilization in the context of climate change and food and nutritional security.