Beautiful rose hips are mostly neglected in gardens but when used they exhibit an attractive range of colour and texture in garden. The miniature roses are one of the least exploited class of roses in landscaping in India. The systematic breeding work on miniature roses in India is also in a nacent stage. Thus, miniature rose genotypes were evaluated to be used for ornamental hips and among 45 genotypes, the genotype String of Pearls was miniature, short heighted (31-60 cm), showed medium glossiness on leaves with very small, pear shaped, orange coloured hips with medium length of pedicel. Genotypes The Fairy, Graine de Beaute, Mr. Blue Bird showed same characters besides having strong glossiness on upper leaf surface and red hip colour. The shapes of above genotypes were different viz., The Fairy and Graine de Beaute showed round shape, Mr. Blue Bird expressed pear shaped hips.

The rose rightly called ‘Queen of flowers’ is the most beautiful among all the flowers. Variety of shapes, sizes, colours and versatility has made it the queen of flowers. Flowers are used both as cut flower and loose flower for floral arrangement, hair head adornment, garlands, landscape gardening and also for making various products such as rose oil, rose water, gulkand, rose attar and rose concrete. In addition to being ornamental, rose hips attract wildlife to the garden. Many birds and small animals consume hips during the fall and winter, if available. Rose hips are edible for people too (Haynes, 2019). Rose hips are widespread in roses that have been traditionally used as medicinal compounds for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases. The therapeutic potential of these plants is based on its antioxidant effects caused by or associated with its phytochemical composition, which includes ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds and healthy fatty acids among others (Mármol et al., 2017). The rose hips have also been utilised for ornamental purpose as reviewed by Patel (2017). Of the approximately 150 different species in the genus Rosa, there are 10 species and 70 cultivars grown specifically for the ornamental value of their hips (Annon., 2015) and approximately 11 species potentially grown for hip production, with R. canina and R. dumalis being the primary species for commercial purposes (Uggla, 2004; Celik et al., 2009; Andersson, 2009; Amante, 2016).

The present study was carried out to study the performance of 45 miniature Rose genotypes namely Bharani, China 65, Golden Century, Frothy, Zwergkonig, Royal Midnette, Simply Marvelous, Chandrika, Flash Dance, Kayla, Sunday Brunch, Vanessa, Maigold Sweet Dream, Blue Blood, Scarlet Gem, String of pearls, Fairy Gold, Lavender Midnette, Young Mistress, Gourmet Popcorn, Giggles, Ruby Star, Wild Fire, The Fairy, Red Figurine, Aishwarya, Don Don, Lemon Sweet Dream, Rise n Shine, Swinger, Babe, Mirabel, Flamboyant, Roxy, Graine De Beaute, Cup Cake, Mr. Blue Bird, Amber Star, Fire Flash, Hoot & Howler, Leila Laird, Painter's Palette, Dazzler and Priti in Randomized Block design under open field condition at the Rose Garden, Experimental Farm of Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh during the years 2017 and 2018. The morphometric data was measured for characters like girth of seed vessel (mm) and incidence of disease. The qualitative data like glossiness on the upper surface of leaf, plant growth type, plant height, size of seed vessel at petal fall, shape of hips, hip colour and pedicel length was recorded as per DUS characterization manual of PPVRA, 2006. 

The genotypes which showed mature hip of attractive colour and shape with short pedicels on dwarf, miniature plants were selected for landscape usage for ornamental hips among all 45 genotypes.

Plant growth type is an essential pseudo qualitative characteristic which has to be observed for garden varieties.This characteristic was observed by visual assessment by a single observation of a group of plants at full bloom stage. The character was observed at first flush for both growing seasons.The data from Table of characteristics (Table 2) clearly shows that genotype Golden Century was classified as a ground cover and miniature; genotypes Bharani, China 65, Golden Century, Frothy, Zwergkonig, Royal Midnette, Simply Marvelous, Chandrika, Flash Dance, Kayla, Sunday Brunch, Vanessa, Maigold Sweet Dream, Blue Blood, Scarlet Gem, String of Pearls, Fairy Gold, Lavender Midnette, Young Mistress, Gourmet Popcorn, Giggles, Ruby Star, Wild Fire, The Fairy, Red Figurine, Aishwarya, Don Don, Lemon Sweet Dream, Rise n Shine, Swinger, Babe, Mirabel, Flamboyant, Roxy, Graine De Beaute, Cup Cake, Mr. Blue Bird, Amber Star, Fire Flash, Hoot & Howler, Leila Laird, Painter's Palette, Nine and  Dazzleras miniature; Lemon Sweet Dream, Babe and Priti as dwarf; Royal Midnette, Maigold Sweet Dream and Wild Fire as climber and miniature. No genotype among the tested group was found to be bedding type or shrub type.

Plant height (cm) is an essential quantitative characteristic which has to be observed for garden varieties, the characteristic was observed by measurement of a number of individuals at full bloom stage. The character was observed at second flush for both growing seasons. The data clearly shows that genotypes which showed very short height (<30 cm) were Lemon Sweet Dream, Babe and Priti; Short genotypes (31-60 cm) were Bharani, Golden Century, Simply Marvelous, Chandrika, Flash Dance, Kayla, Sunday Brunch, Vanessa, Blue Blood, Scarlet Gem, String of pearls, Fairy Gold, Young Mistress, Giggles, Ruby Star, The Fairy, Red Figurine, Aishwarya, Swinger, Mirabel, Flamboyant, Roxy, Graine De Beaute, Cup Cake, Mr. Blue Bird, Amber Star and Fire Flash; Medium height genotypes (61-100 cm) were China 65, Frothy, Zwergkonig, Maigold Sweet Dream, Lavender Midnette, Gourmet Popcorn, Wild Fire, Don Don, Rise n Shine, Hoot & Howler, Leila Laird and  Painter's Palette while Royal Midnette was found Tall (100-150 cm). No genotype among the tested group were found to be very tall (>150 cm) in height. The result is in conformity with the earlier findings of Dadhwal (2016) in miniatures and Singh (2016) in floribunda. 

Glossiness of upper side of foliage is an essential qualitative character observed by visual assessment by a single observation of a group of plant parts i.e. leaves. Observations on the leaves and the leaflets shall be made on the middle third of the stem at the times of first flowering. This observation was made on mature and fully expanded leaf. The perusal of data from table depicted that glossiness of upper side was absent in genotypes Bharani, China 65, Chandrika, Flash Dance, Kayla, Sunday Brunch, Blue Blood, Gourmet Popcorn, Babe, Flamboyant, Fire Flash, Leila Laird, Painter's Palette, Nine, Dazzler and Priti; genotypes Frothy, Royal Midnette, Simply Marvelous, Vanessa, Maigold Sweet Dream, Scarlet Gem, Lavender Midnette, Young Mistress, Giggles, Wild Fire, Red Figurine and Aishwarya showed weak glossiness; Medium expression of leaf glossiness was seen in genotypes Golden Century, String of pearls, Ruby Star, Don Don, Cup Cake, Amber Star, Hoot & Howler whereas, strong expression was shown by genotypes Golden Century, String of pearls, Ruby Star, Don Don, Cup Cake, Amber Star, Hoot & Howler. Glossy surface is consider better than non-glossy leaf surface in roses (Singh, 2016). The study by Singh (2016) also found large variation among the genotypes in leaf upper surface glossiness. The differences among the cultivars of above character might be due to genetic make-up of the cultivar and the study is in conformity with Gaurav et al. (2018).

In the present studies perusal of data presented in Table 1 revealed that during 2017, the range of size of seed vessel varied from 6.95 to 2.13 mm. Largest seed vessel size (6.95 mm) was recorded in genotype ‘Wild Fire’, which was found statistically at par with ‘Golden Century’ (6.77 mm), ‘Flash Dance’ (6.44 mm), ‘Young Mistress’ (6.43 mm), ‘Don Don’ (6.29 mm) and ‘Lemon Sweet Dream’ (6.23 mm) whereas, smallest seed vessel size was found in ‘Painter’s Palette’ (2.13 mm) followed by ‘Priti’ (2.17 mm), ‘Gourmet Popcorn’ (2.32 mm), ‘China 65’ (2.73) and ‘Dazzler’ (2.85 mm).During 2018, the range of size of seed vessel varied from 7.05 to 2.20 mm. Largest seed vessel size (7.05 mm) was recorded in genotype ‘Wild Fire’, which was found statistically at par with ‘Young Mistress’ (6.58 mm), ‘Flash Dance’ (6.50 mm), whereas, smallest seed vessel size was found in ‘Painter’s Palette’ (2.20 mm) and ‘Gourmet Popcorn’ (2.20 mm) followed by ‘Priti’ (2.38 mm), ‘Dazzler’ (2.48 mm) and ‘China 65’ (2.51 mm).On pooling the data for two years, largest seed vessel size (7 mm) was recorded in genotype ‘Wild Fire’, which was found statistically at par with ‘Young Mistress’ (6.50 mm), ‘Golden Century’ (6.55 mm), whereas, smallest seed vessel size was found in ‘Painter’s Palette’ (2.17 mm) followed by ‘Gourmet Popcorn’ (2.26 mm), ‘Priti’ (2.28 mm), ‘China 65’ (2.62 mm) and ‘Dazzler’ (2.66 mm). Seed vessel size was found non-significant in both the years as well as interaction between genotype and year.

Seed vessel size is a quantitative characteristic to be observed visually by observing a group of plant parts for garden varieties. This has to observed at petal fall. The data represented in Table 1 depicted that very small seed vessel size was shown by genotypes Bharani, China 65, Frothy, Royal Midnette, Chandrika, Kayla, Vanessa, Blue Blood, Scarlet Gem, String of Pearls, Gourmet Popcorn, Ruby Star, The Fairy, Red Figurine, Swinger, Mirabel, Roxy, Graine De Beaute, Cup Cake, Mr. Blue Bird, Leila Laird, Painter's Palette, Dazzler and Priti while small state of expression in seed vessel size was exhibited by Golden Century, Zwergkonig, Simply Marvelous, Flash Dance, Sunday Brunch, Maigold Sweet Dream, Fairy Gold, Lavender Midnette, Young Mistress, Giggles, Wild Fire, Aishwarya, Don Don, Lemon Sweet Dream, Rise n Shine, Babe, Flamboyant, Amber Star, Fire Flash, Hoot & Howler and Nine. The expressions medium large and very large was shown by none of the genotypes studied. 

Hip shape is a pseudoqualitative characteristic to be observed visually by observing a group of plant parts for garden varieties. This has to observed on mature hips. The data represented in Table 2 depicted that the genotypes which showed funnel shaped hip is Scarlet Gem; genotypes Bharani, China 65, Golden Century, Zwergkonig, Kayla, Sunday Brunch, Lavender Midnette, Young Mistress, Ruby Star, Wild Fire, Aishwarya, Lemon Sweet Dream, Rise n Shine, Swinger, Hoot & Howler showed pitcher shaped hips. String of Pearls, Flamboyant, Mr. Blue Bird showed pear shaped hips. Genotypes Royal Midnette, Maigold Sweet Dream, The Fairy, Graine De Beaute, Dazzler, Priti showed round hips. 

Hip colour is a pseudoqualitative characteristic to be observed visually by observing a group of plant parts for garden varieties (Dadhwal, 2016). This has to observed on mature hips especially for varieties grown for hip only. Genotypes Bharani, China 65, Kayla, Maigold Sweet Dream, Scarlet Gem, String of Pearls, Wild Fire, Priti showed orange hips; The Fairy, Flamboyant, Graine De Beaute, Mr. Blue Bird and Dazzler showed red hips; genotypes  Golden Century, Zwergkonig, Sunday Brunch, Lavender Midnette, Young Mistress, Ruby Star, Aishwarya, Lemon Sweet Dream, Rise n Shine, Swinger and Hoot & Howler showed brown hips, while Royal Midnette showed purple hips. The differences of hip colour in cultivars might be due to genetic make up of the cultivar which is in conformity with the findings of Singh (2016); Dadlani (2016). 

Length of pedicleis an essential characteristic to be measured by observing a group of plant parts for garden varieties. The data depicted that short pedicels were recorded in genotypes China 65, Golden Century, Maigold Sweet Dream, Blue Blood, Fairy Gold, Young Mistress, Gourmet Popcorn, Ruby Star, Rise n Shine, Swinger, Babe, Flamboyant and Priti; medium length of pedicel was found in Bharani, Frothy, Zwergkonig, Royal Midnette, Simply Marvelous, Chandrika, Kayla, Sunday Brunch, Vanessa, Scarlet Gem, String of Pearls, Lavender Midnette, Giggles, Wild Fire, The Fairy, Red Figurine, Aishwarya, Don Don, Mirabel, Roxy, Graine De Beaute, Mr. Blue Bird, Amber Star, Fire Flash, Hoot & Howler, Painter's Palette and Dazzler. Genotypes Flash Dance, Lemon Sweet Dream, Cup Cake, Leila Laird, Nine exhibited long pedicels. Singh (2016) also observed that the pedicle length varied significantly among the floribunda varieties. In miniature roses the shorter the pedicel length the fuller the flower bunch will look. Thus, short pedicel length is preferred in miniatures. The differences in the pedicle length might be due to varietal characteristics of the cultivars.

A part of the rose plant that is often overlooked is the fruit or hips. Hips of a rose can be incredibly attractive. Rose hips mature in late summer or early fall and can be burgundy, scarlet-red, orange, or golden-yellow. Among 45 genotypes Genotype String of Pearls was miniature, short heighted (31-60 cm), showed medium glossiness on leaves with very small, pear shaped, orange coloured hips with medium length of pedicel. Genotypes The Fairy, Graine de Beaute, Mr. Blue Bird showed same characters besides being strong glossiness on upper leaf surface and red hip colour. The shapes of above genotypes were different viz., The Fairy and  Graine de Beaute showed round shape; Mr. Blue Bird expressed pear shaped hips. Thus, these genotypes besides their flori-ferousness and flowering characters can well be recommended for use as genotypes for ornamental hips.

Table 1: Size of seed vessel (mm) of different miniature rose genotypes.

Table 2: Table of characteristics depicting suitability of miniature rose genotypes for usage as ornamental hip plants.

A part of the rose plant that is often overlooked is the fruit or hips. Hips of a rose can be incredibly attractive. Rose hips mature in late summer or early fall and can be burgundy, scarlet-red, orange, or golden-yellow. Among 45 genotypes Genotype String of Pearls was miniature, short heighted (31-60 cm), showed medium glossiness on leaves with very small, pear shaped, orange coloured hips with medium length of pedicel. Genotypes The Fairy, Graine de Beaute, Mr. Blue Bird showed same characters besides being strong glossiness on upper leaf surface and red hip colour. The shapes of above genotypes were different viz., The Fairy and Graine de Beaute showed round shape; Mr. Blue Bird expressed pear shaped hips. Thus, these genotypes besides their flori-ferousness and flowering characters can well be recommended for use as genotypes for ornamental hips. Overall, this study’s characterization of basic traits of forty-five genotypes provides a glimpse of their potential. Having not been well studied previously, there is now evidence to suggest that further study is warranted and that these genotypes may be more useful to the rose breeders. 

Based on the results described here, further research is warranted on all the species roses too suitable for ornamental hips needs to be studied.  Due to the high variability in observations, new trials should be evaluated for multiple seasons. Specifically, a variety of genotypes of each species should be grown in controlled trials. Longer trials would also help to evaluate climatic and environmental stress factors on production and fruit quality; important for any perennial crop.

Roshni Agnihotri (2021). Suitability of Miniature Rose (Rosa hybrida) Genotypes for Ornamental Hips. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 13(2): 781-786.