Ornamental Plant Breeding Activities Worldwide

EUCARPIA stands for the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding and was established in 1956 as a European Association. At first only Western European countries were represented. Through the years, all the European countries became member, and in 2006 more than 12% of the EUCARPIA members are non-European countries. In the section Ornamentals, this percentage is even much higher, when we look at the number of participants of the 23rd Symposium held 3 years ago in The Netherlands, where almost 50% of the participants were from outside Europe. The breeding history of ornamentals goes back centuries ago, but well documented breeding descriptions can only be found in some crops for 2-3 centuries. Activities at horticultural institutes and universities are because of the public access of their publications most well known while private activities (amateurs and professionals) are less documented. Nowadays The Netherlands is leading in ornamental breeding; almost all new introduced cultivars are developed by private commercial companies, who are active worldwide. However, there is a tendency that other continents, North and South America and Asia, will play a more prominent role in the future.