Looking for Rembrandt tulips, crossbreeding of onions and wild species
Visit the tulip breaking virus testing field and learn about breeding for resistance in tulip/Most onion and leek cultivars are highly susceptible to pests and diseases. Resistance to thrips, fusarium basal rot and botrytis has been found in species related to onion and leek. Wageningen UR Plant Breeding has a unique collection of such related species.
We are trying to introgress these traits into onion or leek by making interspecfic crosses between these species and the related species. Also ovule or embryo-rescue is used in order to obtain progeny plants of these crosses.