Horticulture Digest #99 March 1993

EVALUATION OF PPPC-TYPE DENDROBIUM PROGENIES
D. Nellie Sugii UH1233
(and D. Tessie Amore UH1191, UH1276)

Den. Nellie Sugii (UH1233)
Photo by L. Kiyan

Den. Tessie Amore (UH1191, UH1276)
Photo by Dr. H. Kamemoto

The Jaquelyn Thomas-type, seed-propagated, dendrobium cultivars developed by the University of Hawaii are amphidiploids or tetrapoloids with two chromosome sets of the P. (Phalaenanthe) genome and two sets of the C. (Ceratobium) genome. UH44, UH232, UH306, UH503, UH507 and UH800 are PPCC amphidiploids. UH955 (D. Joan Kushima) and UH971 (D. Elaine Harada) on the other hand, are PPPC tetraploids with three sets of the P. genome and one set of the C. genome. Because UH955 and UH971 have a majority of the P. genome, flowers are larger, fuller and more attractive than the PPCC amphidiploids, but yields are lower.

With the recent appearance of mericlones cultivars from Thailand such as D. Sonia, D. Ekapol and D. Poh Kiew with large, attractive flowers, some growers in Hawaii have expressed interest in PPPC-type cultivars that are seed-propagated. Accordingly, we made several PPPC crosses and evaluated the progenies for uniformity, yield, bud drop, and other horticultural characters.

Two separate groups were evaluated. The first group of seven crosses (Table 1) were germinated in spring, 1986, and evaluated from June 1988 to December 1991. We featured K681-17 as one of the PPPP parents because of its attractive two-tone light lavender (pink) color and good substance.

The second group (Table 2) consisted of 10 crosses, germinated between November, 1986 to March, 1988. The majority of crosses were evaluated from July, 1989 to December, 1991, but K1276, K1280, K1282 and K1286 were evaluated from July 1990 to December 1991. This group featured as parents Neo Hawaii 4N, which is one of the parents of UH306, Joanna Mesina 4N (D408) with attractive, full, two-tone lavender (pink), and long lasting flowers, selections from a PPPP cross (K681) with two-tone lavender (pink) flowers, and a red Jaquelyn Concert 4N (D239-1).

The data for group 1 progenies are summarized in Table 3. The flower characteristics, except yield, bud drop and flower color, were similar with no statistical differences. An important character is percent bud drop. If we accept a minimum of 5% bud drop, then crosses K1113, K1117 and K1126 should be rejected even if other features are desirable. The red Jaquelyn Concert parent (D239-1) must have contributed to the high bud drop in both K1113 and K1117. The rest of the crosses all showed some variation in flower color, and did not exhibit exceptional features to warrant consideration for commercial cropping.

Table 1. Group I PPPC Hybrids.

Cross Number

Cross

K1113

K1117

K1126

K1144

K1146

K1147

K1148

D192 (Jaquelyn Thomas 4N) x W15-6 (phalaenopsis 4N)

D239-1 (Jaquelyn Concert) x K404-2 (PPPP 4N)

D364-2 (Louisae 4N) x W15-6 (phalaenopsis 4N)

K681-17 (PPPP 4N) x 0580-4N (Jaquelyn Thomas 4N)

K681-17 (PPPP 4N) x D168-12 (Jaquelyn Thomas 4N)

K681-17 (PPPP 4N) x Y166-1 (Jaquelyn Thomas 4N)

K681-17 (PPPP 4N) x NH4N (Neo Hawaii 4N)

Table 2. Group II PPPC hybrids.

Cross Number

Cross

K1191

K1211

K1219

K1227

K1232

K1233

K1262

K1276

K1280

K1282

K159-21 (Jaquelyn Thomas 4N) x D408 (Joanna Mesina 4N)

K1026-9 (PPPP 4N) x NH4N (Neo Hawaii 4N)

D276-2 (Dale Takiguchi 4N) x NH4N (Neo Hawaii 4N)

K681-2 (PPPP 4N) x NH4N (Neo Hawaii 4N)

K681-29 (PPPP 4N) x NH4N (Neo Hawaii 4N)

D408 (Joanna Mesina 4N) x NH4N (Neo Hawaii 4N)

K681-29 (PPPP 4N) x NH4N (Neo Hawaii 4N)

K44-50 (Jaquelyn Concert 4N) x D408 (Joanna Mesina 4N)

D239-1 (Jaquelyn Concert 4N) x K119-2 (PPPP 4N)

K404-2 (PPPP 4N) x D239-1 (Jaquelyn Concert 4N)

Table 3. Performance of Group I – PPPC progenies

Cross Number	Number sprays per plant	Number flowers per spray	Scape Length (inches)	Spray Length (inches)	Flower Length x Width (inches)	Pedicel Length (inches)	% Bud drop	Plant Height (inches)	Flower color
K1113	6.7	13.1	8.7	18.3	2.8 x 3.0	1.8	8.2	30.7	Pink, slight variation
K1117	8.0	12.8	6.9	15.4	2.2 x 2.7	1.7	19.5	21.5	Purple, uniform
K1126	10.1	14.1	8.9	26.4	2.8 x 3.0	1.9	6.7	26.4	Lavender, slight tessellation
K1144	11.5	13.2	9.7	20.0	3.1 x 3.3	1.6	1.0	25.0	Lavender, slight variation
K1146	6.8	14.5	8.6	21.7	2.5 x 2.6	1.8	3.7	25.4	Light and darker lavender
K1147	13.5	15.1	8.7	17.0	2.6 x 2.8	1.6	2.2	32.8	Pink, slight variation
K1148	17.9	12.5	10.2	22.7	2.7 x 3.0	1.9	3.5	29.2	Variable, pink, dark pink, white

Table 4. Performance of Group II – PPPC progenies

Cross Number	No. sprays per plant	No. flowers per spray	Scape Length (inches)	Spray Length (inches)	Flower Length x Width (inches)	Pedicel Length (inches)	% Bud Drop	Plant Height (inches)	Flower Color
K1191	7.8	13.8	10.2	22.7	2.6 x 2.9	1.6	1.0	30.6	Pink, slight variation
K1211	7.4	13.7	6.9	15.4	2.2 x 2.7	1.7	12.1	32.0	Pink, fairly uniform
K1219	9.6	12.6	7.4	16.5	2.4 x 2.7	1.5	8.1	28.6	Pink, few white
K1227	7.3	13.0	9.7	21.3	2.5 x 2.8	1.8	5.2	26.8	Pink, few white
K1232	7.3	13.3	9.4	21.1	2.6 x 2.9	1.8	5.0	25.7	Pink, variable shades
K1233	8.2	13.9	9.2	21.5	2.4 x 2.7	1.6	3.5	32.6	Pink, slight variation
K1262	6.5	12.4	9.3	21.0	2.5 x 2.8	1.8	4.4	23.7	Pink, slight variation
K1276	6.1	15.0	9.2	21.5	2.6 x 2.8	1.5	1.0	31.5	Pink, slight variation
K1280	3.6	13.8	6.7	20.3	2.3 x 2.6	1.7	20.7	20.4	Reddish purple, slight variation
K1282	4.5	13.1	6.1	18.1	2.4 x 2.7	1.8	15.0	19.6	Reddish purple, slight variation

Table 5. Characteristics of K1191, K1233 and K1276.

Characteristics	K1191	K1233	K1276
Sprays per plant	7.8 ± 0.7	8.2 ± 2.1	6.5 ± 1.5
Scape length (inches)	8.8 ± 0.9	9.2 ± 1.7	9.2 ± 1.7
Spray length (inches)	21.2 ± 4.5	21.5 ± 3.0	21.5 ± 3.1
Number of flowers per spray	13.8 ± 3.7	13.9 ± 4.0	15.0 ± 3.7
Percent bud drop	1.0	3.5	1.0
Flower length (inches)	2.7 ± 0.3	2.4 ± 0.1	2.6 ± 0.3
Flower width (inches)	2.9 ± 0.3	2.7 ± 0.2	2.8 ± 0.1
Pedicel length (inches)	1.6 ± 0.1	1.6 ± 0.1	1.5 ± 0.1
Vase life (days)	20.4 ± 6.8	23.9 ± 6.8	22.9 ± 8.0
Mean plant height (inches)	30.6 ± 5.8	32.6 ± 5.9	31.5 ± 6.2

The data for the second group are summarized in Table 4. Again no differences in flower characteristics, except yield, bud drop and flower color were observed among the crosses. As in Group I, the red Jaquelyn Concert (D239-1) parent contributed to the high bud drop percent of 20.7 in K1280 (D239-1 x K119-2) and 15.0 in K1282 (K404-2 x D239-1). Flower yields were low for these two crosses. K1211 and 1219 had unacceptable bud drop percentages higher than 5, while K1232 and K1262 showed a borderline bud drop percentage of 5.0, and 4.4, respectively. The remaining 3 crosses, K1191, K1233 and K1276 appeared the most promising with a very low bud drop percentage, and furthermore, produced fairly uniform attractive pink flowers. All three crosses, which have Joanna Mesina as one of the parents, produced erect sprays with exceptionally long vase lives of 20.4, 23.9 and 22.9 days, respectively. K1191 and K1276 are being registered as Dendrobium Tessie Amore (D. Jaquelyn Thomas x D. Joanna Mesina), and K1233 as Dendrobium Nellie Sugii (D. Joanna Mesina x D. Neo Hawaii). These three crosses will be released as UH1191, UH1276 and UH1233 for trial as seed-propagated PPPC cultivars. A brief profile of the three cultivars are presented in table 5 and their seasonality in Figure 3. It should be noted that the yield for K1276 was lower than that for K1191 and K1233 due to the shorter evaluation period.

UH1276, UH1191, UH1233 productivity graphs

H. Kamemoto, A.R. Kuehnle,
T.D. Amore and N.C. Sugii

Hawaiian Floral Nursery
41-928 Kakaina Street Waimanalo, Hawaii 96795 USA
Phone: (808) 259-8311 Fax: (808) 259-9701 email: service@hfloral.com

EVALUATION OF PPPC-TYPE DENDROBIUM PROGENIES D. Nellie Sugii UH1233 (and D. Tessie Amore UH1191, UH1276)

Table 3. Performance of Group I – PPPC progenies

Table 4. Performance of Group II – PPPC progenies

K1233

EVALUATION OF PPPC-TYPE DENDROBIUM PROGENIES
D. Nellie Sugii UH1233
(and D. Tessie Amore UH1191, UH1276)