Almost retired Taiwanese professor still challenged by ornamental breeding
Chien-Young Chu has been teaching at the Department of Horticulture of the National
Chung-Hsing University in Taichung (Taiwan) for decades. At the end of this year he retires.
Chu looks back on his career and summarizes the results of several breeding programs.
Some varieties and series are launched already commercially. Others have the potentials to
conquer the market successfully. As a genuine breeder Chu often tells that there still are
plenty of challenges for him.
Author: Guus Wijchman, editor of www.newplantsandflowers.com
In 1977 Chien-Young Chu started as a teaching assistant at the Department of Horticulture of the
National Chung-Hsing University in Taichung (Taiwan). Later on he became professor. He introduced
in this country ornamental plant breeding. A lot of breeding had been going on in Taiwan for
decades, but not on a commercial base. Most breeders, who are working nowadays in Taiwan,
followed his concept. “Including my classmate Dr. Tsai-Mu Shen”, says Chu about his colleague .
Shen is currently dedicated to the breeding of orchids at the Department of Horticulture of the ChiaYi University; in particularly Phalaenopsis. “All what has to do with the Phalaenopsis breeding is his
business, and I have the responsibility of most of the other crops.”
Chu will retire at the end of this year. This doesn’t mean that he says farewell to the commercial
ornamental plant breeding in Taiwan. On the contrary, he will still be involved in several programs
which he started during his career.
A major part of the results of Chu’s breeding work will be commercialized by Shen-An Yang. Almost
ten years ago he loaned the facilities from Known-You Seed Company in the mountains in the centre
part of Taiwan. “Yang’s ambition is to go on until all our varieties are being sold all over the world”,
says Chu with a smile.
From many of the varieties which are now grown by Yang or produced by other growers in the world,
Chu gets royalties. Sometimes up to 4% of the turnover and for instance in Japan 10 Nippon Yen per
young plant. All that money goes back to the university, he assures.
Personally he is still entitled to use the PE-house facilities after his retirement for another five years.
Furthermore he will fulfil the role of consultant for several breeding projects, included the kalanchoe
program.
Developing complete new kalanchoes
Kalanchoe is one of the species Chu has been working with for a long time. His collection includes
about hundred species and varieties. In all that time he has not been looking for again another
Kalanchoe bossfeldiana. He sees much more challenges in interspecific breeding of Kalanchoe. “In no
way we can compete with the big multinationals that introduces one new variety or series after the
other. Our strength is to utilize all the breeding knowledge and technology that are gathered in our
department. If we really want to add something substantial to the current Kalanchoe assortment, we
have to develop completely new plants. Something nobody has seen yet”, says Chu and continues
with a big smile with: “We have to make the impossible possible.”
photo: http://www.newplantsandflowers.com/developing-complete-new-kalanchoes/
Non-thirsty kalanchoe cut flower
He and his students made the impossible possible by for instance developing a cut flower kalanchoe
that can stay days, or even weeks without water. “After two weeks on the kitchen sink without any
moisture these cut kalanchoes still performed well on a vase”, tells Chu from experience. The culture
period (in Taiwan) is three to four months. After cutting the stem, the plant can be discarded.
From this breeding program four colours are now ready for commercializing. “If no grower would be
interested in these cut kalanchoes we might start the production ourselves”, says Chu challenging,
also referring to his friend and business partner Shen-An Yang.
photos on: http://www.newplantsandflowers.com/cut-flower-kalanchoes-that-can-stay-weeks-without-water/
Kalanchoe garambiensis brings hot tolerance in
At the Department of Horticulture Kalanchoe bossfeldiana is also hybridized with K. garambiensis.
This yellow species is indigenous in the southern part of Taiwan, which has a tropical climate. The
indigenous Kalanchoe is therefore very heat tolerant. Chu selected his seedlings exactly on that heat
tolerance. The selections he made, also show a good ramification, without any pinching. For two
single-flowered and four double-flowered varieties Plant Breeders Rights are applied. When he
compares his pink double Kalanchoe ‘Peach Fairy’ with the current K. bossfeldiana assortment, he
notices that the petals of his creations are much shinier than the traditional varieties.
Chu also focuses on the Bell Kalanchoes. Mostly these bells more long than wide. His department has
been working on Bell varieties with grape-like flowers. A few varieties are according to the Taiwanese
professor ready to be marketed.
photos on: http://www.newplantsandflowers.com/bell-kalanchoes-with-grape-like-flowers/
Dianthus hybrids with one month vase life
The idea of ‘making the impossible possible’ and create completely new plants by interspecific
hybridization runs through many of the breeding programs at the National Chung-Hsing University.
That goes also for Dianthus. Chu started breeding Dianthus recently. He crossed D. palinensis and D.
japonicus. The first one is endemic in Taiwan, the other come from Japan. One of the varieties that
derived from this breeding program is ready to conquer the market. One flower of a stem of this
plant lasts according to him about thirteen days, one stem over one month. “Which makes this
Dianthus perfect for the cut flower industry”, enthuses Chu. Now it is a question of creating other
colours. He assumes that these other colours can be achieved through mutation techniques, for
instance by adding chemicals in the tissue culture phase of this new interspecific Dianthus.
Photos on: http://www.newplantsandflowers.com/dianthus-hybrids-with-one-month-vase-life/
Smaller in balance bougainvillea
Also relatively new is the Bougainvillea breeding program at the Taichung university. One of the key
problems in this program was to get seed from the Bougainvillea crosses. However, Chu sees
possibilities to improve the seed production in the near future. The target is to develop a smaller pot
plant. The size of pot and plant should be in balance.
photo: http://www.newplantsandflowers.com/smaller-in-balance-bougainvillea/
In all aspects better Euphorbia milii
The team of Chu has been breeding Euphorbia milii for years now. About the current assortment he
says that there are enough varieties with nice big flowers. “But the thorns are terrible and the
growth habit is often not good. Furthermore these varieties can’t flourish in a room where only a
limited amount of sunlight comes in.” With these words Chu already summarized the key features of
the breeding program at the Chung-Hsing University: no thorns, better ramification and more
shadow tolerance. “If this program is successful, the market will be mine”, he says ambitiously. He
dares to use these ambitious words, as the program is promising. Last year he showed already two
thorn-less varieties on the International Floricultural Trade Fair in Netherlands. At the moment two
students of the university are working dedicated to the program, a third one will join soon.
photos: http://www.newplantsandflowers.com/in-all-aspects-better-euphorbia-milii/
Euphorbia pulcherrima in a champagne glass
The current Euphorbia breeding program includes a number of attempts to make interspecific
hybrids, just to develop completely new plants. “However, creating new ornamental products is not
always a matter of breeding”, underscores Chu and shows a whole production of mini-poinsettias.
“Usually these mini-poinsettias are made of cuttings with three to four nodes. We developed at the
Department of Horticulture a propagating method for Euphorbia pulcherrima which makes it possible
to use cuttings of just one node. The mini-plants that derive from these one node cuttings produce
mainly bracts.
The cute minis have a long ‘vase life’ Chu found out. Rooted in an Oasis-like cube they can grow in a
hydroponic system. Chu’s fantasy goes one step further when he suggests putting the minipoinsettias in a champagne glass on the X-mas table. “Actually these plants easily keep their
ornamental value during one month”, he emphasises.
photos: http://www.newplantsandflowers.com/vase-life-of-months-for-mini-poinsettia/
Year round flowering Hibiscus
Hibsicus has been another important crop at the National Chung-Hsing University. That breeding
program goes back to the mid-90th, when Japanese nursery Hanakongou Co. Ltd. from Japan asked
Chu’s assistance in finding the right varieties for the Japanese climate. The company that also
financed the program worked at that time with the European Sunny Cities series. However, these
varieties did not bloom in Japan during July and August.
Both months are important for the pot plant sales in Japan. So Hanakongou needed varieties which
would flower in these summer months. “That company actually needed year round flowering
Hibiscus’ that would perform under different temperatures varying from 10˚ to 35 ˚C”, corrects Chu.
To these requirements he added himself other demands. In his opinion the petals of Hibiscus flowers
need to be big, and they should have wavy edges and a big contrast between the colour of the heart
of the flower and the rest of petals. “Both, wavy edges and a big contrast give these flower dynamic
looks”, he states.
The first three years of that program were lost as the plants did not produce any seeds. First in the
fourth year Chu found the way to crack this problem. A part of the trick was to imitate the climate of
the region were hibiscus is indigenous, he experienced.
Hibiscus series makes leap to European market
Six years ago Hanakongou started the production of the Asian Wind Hibiscus’ in Japan. The series
includes now more than twenty colours. Five years ago a Taiwanese production was started with
seven colours. That’s just because the Taiwanese market is compared with Japan much smaller. Two
of the twenty varieties are on their way to conquer the European market. The responsible royalty
management agency prepares the launch of the series in Europe now.
Even now, when his retirement is just a matter of months, Chu is not completely satisfied about the
Asian Wind series. One of the challenges is for instance to develop a better white Asian Wind. The
plant of the current white variety still can be improved. “Also a deep red variety is more than
welcome.”
photo: http://www.newplantsandflowers.com/year-round-flowering-hibiscus-series-with-dynamic-looks/
Future Hibiscus challenges
Furthermore he mentions the fact that Hibiscus flowers usually last only one day. Slowly on for some
varieties two days is not an exception anymore. There is according to Chu still a long way to go.
A complete other feature in the Hibiscus breeding is fragrance. Chu works with a species which
derives from Hawaii and is fragrant. But he expects that it will take quite some time to develop a
commercial Hibiscus series with fragrance. “It will be something for the distant future.”
As told in the beginning of this article Chu’s classmate, professor at the Horticultural Department of
Chia-Yi University is responsible for exclusively Phalaenopsis, the number one crop in Taiwan.
“Phalaenopisis will always be an important product for Taiwan”, he expects. “But there will come a
time that Taiwanese growers have to look at other crops to maintain the profitability of their
businesses.” If it is up to Chu these growers have at that time plenty of choices.
Chu also states that especially in the last few years more and more ‘planthunters’ visit Taiwan. “It is
obvious that the economic problems in a number of countries have influence on the budgets for
ornamental plant breeding at the bigger seed companies. Due to budget cuts it gets for these
companies probably more interesting to look what countries like Taiwan already have ‘in stock’.” Chu
is sure that Taiwan has to offer a lot, when it comes to new varieties. <
Successful market launch versus publication in scientific magazine
Scientists need to publish their scientific studies in order to get higher up in the
ranking of a university. However, scientists working at the Department of
Horticulture of the National Chung-Hsing University in Taichung do not publish much
compared with their colleagues from other departments and institutes. “They spend
a major part of their time on developing new cultivation methods and new crops. But
the lack of scientific publications hinders them in their career”, says professor ChineYoung Chu. “That’s why our university developed other criteria which help the
careers of these young professors.”
He introduced the principle of a scientific article versus a new variety. “A newly
developed variety should have the same weight as a publication in one of the wellknown scientific magazines”. Well, not completely... A part of the deal is that the new
variety gets official Plant Breeders Rights, or an invention gets patented.
“Furthermore the innovation has to be launched. First after a successful market
launch, the scientist gets the same recognition as his colleague who publishes his
scientific studies”. The board of the National Chung-Hsing University took over this
idea. In mean time two employees of the department already had benefit from these
new rules and got promoted.”