PROGRESS IN BREEDING THE BULGARIAN CARNATION RACE

The new cultivars of the Bulgarian carnation race developed in recent years excel Sim cultivars in decorative and commercial characteristics. They produce larger and fuller flowers with bigger and heavily serrated petals, improved shape, wider colour range and stronger fragrance. This is combined with higher stability against splitting and longer vase life. The stems are stronger, thicker and longer.

The new cultivars are more vigorous, producing greater number of shoots per plant, which develop quicker in a given period. As a result, the cut flower yield is considerably higher than that of the Sim cultivars, with superior quality and more flowers in the top grades. The percentage of calyx splitting is greatly reduced even under unfavourable conditions.

Some of the new cultivars are distinguished by earlier and more uniform flowering. They are more tolerant of lower temperatures when grown under low energy requirement conditions.

Some of them have a higher resistance to Fusarium wilt than the Sim cultivars.