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Interspecific Crossability of Selected Salvia Species and Potential Use for Crop Improvement

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Hybrids between Salvia species with unequal chromosome numbers have been reported in the past. Salvia nemorosa, with 14 chromosomes, has been reported to form natural, fertile hybrids with S. pratensis (Kerner con Marilaun, 1891) with 18 chromosomes (Goldblatt and Johnson, 1979). Epling (1938) observed natural hybrids between S. columbaria (2n = 26) and S. mellifera (2n = 30) (Epling et al., 1962). Salvia farinacea [2n = 18 (Haque and Ghoshal, 1980) or 2n = 20 (Alberto et al., 2003)] and S. longispicata (2n = 22; Goldblatt and Johnson, 1979) have formed a chance sterile hybrid in cultivation (Clebsch, 2003). Together, these data suggest that Salvia is highly tolerant of aneuploidy in its hybrids and that different chromosome numbers in this genus are not an absolute barrier to hybrid formation.

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Most interspecific hybridization efforts start with the assumption that closely related species with the same chromosome number will be the most likely to successfully hybridize. Our data conflict with those assumptions, indicating that in Salvia, chromosome number is not an accurate predictor of interspecific hybrid formation potential and that hybrids are possible between extremely divergent parts of this genus. Furthermore, our data likely underestimate the potential for successful interspecific hybridization among Salvia species. It is possible that many of the crosses that failed to produce seed in this study would be successful with other genotypes or in other conditions. These data, unfortunately, do not indicate any systematic method to predict interspecific hybridity potential within the genus, meaning breeders will have to explore possible hybrids largely through trial and error.


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Potential for Crop Improvement In Ornamental Salvia Via Interspecific Hybridization

(...) To evaluate crossability within the genus, nine salvia species were selected to represent a wide diversity of native range, phylogenetic relationship, and chromosome number. All species were crossed with each other in every possible combination. Overall, crossability in the genus was low, but exhibited unexpected fertility between phylogenetically and geographically distant species. Similarly, crosses between species with very different chromosome numbers showed unexpected fertility. (...)

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