ISSN : 1225-5009(Print)
ISSN : 2287-772X(Online)
Development Virus-Free Cultivar ‘Pink Moon’ of Gymnocalycium mihanovichii
Jae Hong Lee*, Ji Hye Lee, Jae Soon Seo, Jae Hong Jung, Gu Hyun Jung
Cactus & Succulent Research Institute, Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services, Goyang 10224, Korea
Abstract
The grafted cactus industry in the Republic of Korea is contributing 37% of floral export revenue, with Gymnocalycium mihanovichii cultivars predominantly grafted onto the Selenicereus cacti. However, virus infection rates in the farms of cacti showed 54% for the Selenicereus cacti and 80% for the grafted Gymnocalycium mihanovichii cultivars. In response, the development and distribution of virus-free cultivar by using the virus analyzing system is imperative. A new cultivar, Gymnocalycium mihanovichii ‘Pink Moon’, was developed at Cactus and Succulent Research Institute, Gyeonggi-do A.R.E.S. in 2023. This cultivar was bred by crossing parents lines, GG171077-32 and GG151099-28, selected for their pink coloration and prolific offset production. GG171077-32 and GG151099-28 were crossed and we got 15 seedlings in 2019. In 2020, 4 grafted individuals were selected and propagated for the characteristic testing. By 2021, GG191177-7 with deep pink color and desirable offset number was selected among the breeding lines. After on-farm testing across 3 sites for two years, GG191177-7 was finally selected through the test of characteristics and named as ‘Pink Moon’. ‘Pink Moon’ showed deep pink color (N66A, RHS Color Chart), round and flattened shapes, with 7-9 ribs, and 3.8mm long brown spines. The scion width was 43.4mm and the number of offsets was 18.3 per plant. Real-time PCR analysis of 37 plants in the vegetative 2nd generation revealed infection rates of 16.2% for Cactus Virus X (CVX) and Pitaya Virus X (PiVX) individually, and 32.4% for co-infections of CVX and PiVX. ‘Pink Moon’ demonstrated a virus-free proportion of 35.1%, making it suitable for seedling production and offering a promising solution to virus-related challenges in the grafted cactus cultivation.
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