Breeding of new cultivar "Aladdin 2" through stepwise improvements of cv. "Jimba" using ion beam re-irradiation

Ueno, Keiichiro*; Nagayoshi, Sanetaka*; Imakiire, Seiro*; Koriyama, Keisaku*; Minami, Tomohito*; Tanaka, Atsushi; Hase, Yoshihiro; Matsumoto, Toshikazu*

"Jimba" is a leading variety of white-flower chrysanthemum in Japan, although "Jimba" develops many axillary buds and also shows delayed flowering under a low temperature condition. Previously, we succeeded to produce new chrysanthemum variety "Aladdin" and "Imagine" that have a lesser number of axillary buds by ion beam irradiation. However, these varieties still show delayed flowering under a low temperature condition. In this study, we examined the effect of re-irradiation ofthese mutants by ion beams in improving flowering trait. The cultured leaves of "Aladdin" were irradiated with carbon ions and the regenerated plants were screened for the mutants that flowers earlier than the parental variety under a low temperature condition. Finally, we succeeded to produce new chrysanthemum variety "Aladdin 2" that develops a few axillary buds and shows early flowering traits. Thus, we demonstrated that the two important agronomic traits can be introduced by ion beam irradiation in a stepwise manner. The knowledge obtained in this study may be applicable for improving many kinds of plants.