Analysis of High-Yield Cultivation Techniques for Edible Fungi and Breeding Techniques for Colorful Clivia

From the emergence of colorful clivia to the present, appreciation standards have undergone great changes. Initially, any colorful clivia with yellow or white stripes would suffice, but later the appreciation standards for green clivia were gradually incorporated, such as length-to-width ratio, roundness, brightness, springiness, delicate leaf texture, good head shape, good plant shape, ingot-shaped base, good stiffness, etc., which have now been fully adopted. Generally speaking, colorful clivia is required to possess not only the colorful stripes of colorful clivia but also the appreciation standards of green clivia. The specific requirements are as follows:

Even distribution of colorful stripes: alternating white and green, with a certain proportion.

Good contrast of colorful stripes: distinct green and white, brilliantly attractive, exquisitely translucent, with a three-dimensional feel, transparency, and a refreshing quality.

Good stability of colorful stripes: for striped clivia, the more evenly the colorful stripes are distributed on each leaf, and the more similar each leaf is to the others, the better.

The colors of colorful clivia roughly include five types: rimmed stripes, mandarin duck stripes, colorful stripes, and golden thread stripes, with strains such as Chinese orchid colorful clivia, Japanese colorful clivia, horizontal-leaf colorful clivia, and sparrow colorful clivia. When breeding, the color requirements and variety characteristics must be considered, and parental plants must be carefully selected. Some breeding experiences of predecessors are summarized below.

Selection of Parental Plants

From the emergence of colorful clivia in the 1980s to the present, the hybridization seedling emergence rate is 15%-20%. Only by selecting plants with fairly evenly distributed colorful stripes as the female parent can the emergence rate possibly reach 70%. Therefore, when selecting parents, the traits of both the male and female parents must be comprehensively considered to achieve trait complementarity, so that excellent clivia seedlings can be obtained.

Selection of the Female Parent

Based on the experience of predecessors, when selecting the female parent, first choose silk-stripe clivia with very transparent silk stripes, where the front and back silk stripes can show through, and require even distribution of colorful stripes and high color purity; the greater the contrast between porcelain white and dark green, the better. Secondly, consider other traits, such as leaf length, width, length-to-width ratio, leaf veins, head shape, base shape, brightness, thickness, stiffness, and other conditions. Under the premise of ensuring the seedling emergence rate of the offspring and a relatively high proportion of colorful clivia among the offspring, the more other conditions conform to clivia standards, the better.

Selection of the Male Parent

When selecting the male parent, first choose relatively transparent silk-stripe clivia. Secondly, consider addressing the defects in the female parent's traits, so as to compensate for, improve, and enhance the female parent's traits. In production practice, it is found that some male parents are of very good quality, but when pollinated onto different female parent clivia, the offspring obtained are different. Therefore, the selection of excellent male parents requires long-term practice, recording, observation, and summarization before it can be determined.

Hybridization Techniques

Clivia is not self-fertile and requires artificial pollination. After selecting the male and female parents, only by implementing correct pollination operation techniques can a large number of fruits be obtained.

Preparation Work Before Pollination

Before pollination, prepare the necessary pollination tools: toothpicks, brushes, glass dishes, tweezers, labels, pencils or ballpoint pens, etc., for pollination. When there are many flowers, prepare more pollination tools, and be sure to use one set of pollination tools for one male parent. Determine the optimal pollination time.

When the perianth of the female parent's florets has split open for 2-3 days, the stigma of the pistil begins to secrete mucus, and the pistil is mature, which is the optimal pollination period. The best pollination times of the day are 9:00-10:00 in the morning or 13:00-14:00 in the afternoon.

Collect Pollen in Time

When the stamens of the male parent emerge from the perianth, the anthers split open, and the pollen begins to shed, remove the stamens of the male parent with tweezers, tap the yellow pollen into a glass dish, cover it with a lid, and set it aside for use. Pollen collection must not be too late, as pollen is easily lost if collected too late.

Pollination Operation

When the petals of the female parent's florets are about to unfold or are at the large bud stage, manually unfold the floret petals, remove the stamens that have not shed pollen one by one with tweezers, and then observe carefully. After 2-3 days, the stigma begins to secrete mucus, indicating that the pistil is mature and pollination can be carried out. During pollination, use a brush, toothpick, or other tool to pick up pollen grains and gently tap them onto the stigma of the female parent's pistil until the pollen grains adhere to the stigma. A direct pollination method may also be used. The method is to remove with tweezers the stamens that can shed pollen, directly use the male parent's anthers to gently rub the stigma once, and when the stigma has yellow pollen grains adhering to it, the pollination operation is complete. To ensure good pollination, pollination may be carried out once more the next morning or afternoon. Note that the same male parent's pollen must be used for both pollinations. One set of pollination tools should only be used to pollinate the pollen of one male parent; if truly necessary, the previous male parent's pollen grains must be completely killed before use. During pollination, do not wait until all the florets have opened; pollinate florets blooming at different stages in separate batches in a timely manner to ensure successful pollination. After pollination, attach a label to the pollinated floret, marking the pollination time, number of times, name of the male parent, and operator.

After pollination is completed, observe carefully and promptly remove the clivia florets; do not wait for them to fall off naturally, so as to avoid consuming nutrients. Under normal circumstances, after the pollination operation is completed, the ovary begins to noticeably swell, indicating successful pollination.

After the fruit has set firmly, if the soil was not changed the previous year, change the soil in a timely manner. After changing the soil, immediately pour in 800-fold carbendazim solution to prevent root rot and promptly supply water to prevent fruit drop. Then move into the normal female parent management stage.

Seed Collection

In winter, after about 8 months of growth and development, some clivia seeds begin to show color, indicating that the fruit is mature and seeds should be collected in a timely manner. When collecting seeds, cut off the entire flower scape at the middle-lower part with a knife and hang it in a cool, ventilated place. After 10-15 days of after-ripening, peel the seeds out of the fruit, wash them clean with water, dry them, and store them or sow them immediately. While peeling the seeds, carry out grain selection, discarding poorly developed seeds, seeds without seed pores, and seeds that are too small.

After the seeds are harvested, make simple records, such as number, harvest date, seed name, names of male and female parents, flower color, plant shape, and adaptability, etc. Mark them with labels, place them in bags, and use them as the basis for subsequent seed treatment, storage, exchange, and sowing and seedling cultivation. Then store the seeds in a low-temperature, dry, sealed environment to maintain seed germination capacity and wait for sowing.