Phenotypic analysis of Petunia hybrida commercial varieties

Abstract

Petunia hybrida belongs to the Solanaceae family. It has a significant commercial value worldwide. Petunias grow very well in Kurdistan, with their long flowering period becoming an attractive addition to gardens. In Kurdistan, petunias seeds are often imported, and commonly face problems such as low germination rate; sometimes, the plants' colour is not as described. In addition, it seems that commercial cultivars usually do not produce seeds. Petunia as a model plant, plays a crucial role in most research carried out at molecular, biological, and physiological levels, whereas, the inbred line should be used in such types of research. So far, here in Kurdistan, there has been no research for developing inbred lines or developing petunias for ornamental purposes. This study mainly evaluated four commercial, attractively coloured cultivars: Red Frost, Blackberry, White, and Blue Star. All cultivars showed the same colour as was described. The chosen sample has pin flowers, meaning that self-incompatibility in all cultivars is heteromorphic, but after manual self and cross-pollination, they all produced seeds. In addition, the focus was on several essential phenotypic characteristics that led to exciting results. Present results revealed that the largest diameter belongs to Blackberry (8.319 cm). In contrast, the Red Frost cultivar recorded the most extended peduncle length (4.994cm). In comparison, White cultivars recorded the highest plant height (32.933cm