Breeding of ornamentals: Gladiolus

Gladiolus is grown all over the world for cut flower production for floriculture trade. Extensive research has already been done on gladiolus to generate basic knowledge on multidisciplinary aspects. Efforts in germplasm collections, characterisation, cytology, tissue culture, disease management, classical improvement and induced mutation are worth mentioning. Despite significant technological advances, we are still repeating some of our experiments as routine activities. Selective breeding is now most essential to develop varieties as per requirement of the trade. This will be possible in two ways-utilising all available knowledge as guidelines and identification and wise selection of parents having desirable genes prior to cross-breeding.