Zinnia Breeding For Organic Agriculture
Research Advisor: Charlie Brummer (ecbrummer@ucdavis.edu)
Team Lead: Will Hazzard (hrwilliam@ucdavis.edu)
Zinnias are a popular summer flower, and a staple for many organic cut flower growers across the country. The goals of this project are based on feedback from a grower survey sent out in winter 2019, and include breeding zinnias in novel colors with improved resistance to powdery mildew, longer stems, and longer vase life. Goals include:
- Pastel Intermediate: Improved pastel colored zinnias, including longer stems, more resistance to powdery mildew, and more uniform flower types
- Improved Queen Lime: Improved consistency and powdery mildew resistance of ‘Queen Lime’ flower types, including longer stems and more double flowers
- Bicolor Cactus: Developing multicolored (bicolor) cactus-type flowers
- Smaller Benary’s Giant: Developing slightly smaller ‘Benary’s Giant’-like flowers in a more diverse range of colors
Relative to the other SCOPE crops, very little public information is available on how to breed zinnias, so another goal of the project is to publish information on zinnia genetics and breeding methods. The project has developed a crossing protocol and is currently investigating how color patterns and petal shape are inherited.
The zinnia project collaborates with farmers and florists, such as the Flower Project at the Student Farm Ecological Garden (https://asi.ucdavis.edu/programs/sf/farm-marketplace).
Find the previous zinnia team one-pager here.