Hibridização de Kalanchoë: Passado, Presente e Futuro

Kalanchoë cultivars rank as one of the most sold potted ornamental plants in the world. Among its key features that sustain high market interest are the long flowering period, abundance of flowers, thick and glossy leaves, easy maintenance and less waterrequirement compared to other potted plants. In breeding studies of Kalanchoë, plants with different flower colors such as white,cream, yellow, orange, red, pink and purple were developed. Moreover, double-flowered cultivars (comprising a large number ofpetals), more compact and cultivars with larger flowers were also obtained. Novel morphological characteristics are always in highdemand in the market of ornamental plants. Increasing the variation in the gene pool with different species played a major role inthe development of these characteristics. Nowadays, not only potted cultivars are launched but also cut flower cultivars have beendeveloped and presented to consumers. Besides conventional breeding and interspecific hybridization, biotechnological methods,which have a promising future, are used to develop morphological characteristics of Kalanchoë