Analysis of the cross-compatibility of Lilium brownii var. viridulum and L. davidii var. unicolor

Great achievements have been reached in ornamental lily breeding, however, there is little work on edible lily breeding. In order to breed edible lilies as good as ornamental ones, in the present study, two edible lilies, Lilium brownii var. viridulum and L. davidii var. unicolor, were mainly investigated for their microsporogenesis, hybridization, genomic differences, and hybrid identity and fertility using conventional and modern cytogenetic techniques. The results showed that both L. brownii var. viridulum and L. davidii var. unicolor had normal meiosis and fertility; their hybrids could be obtained through cut style pollination and embryo rescue only when L. brownii var. viridulum was used as female and L. davidii var. unicolor as male; the hybrids were male sterile and the two genomes of their hybrids could be distinguished with genomic in situ hybridization. The results are similar to what observed in ornamental LA, OA, OT, and LO lily hybrids. It is concluded that L. brownii var. viridulum and L. davidii var. unicolor are distantly related and the hybrids are promise to breed allotriploid edible lilies in the next few years.

Automated summary

The study found that the Fukiense lily and Unicolor lily have normal reproductive abilities, and their hybrids can only be obtained when the Fukiense lily is used as the female parent and the Unicolor lily is used as the male parent. These hybrids show promise for the breeding of triploid edible lilies in the coming years.