Ice Red selected as the rose to enter the global market at a new variety show hosted by GARES 

◇ The Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services (GARES) selected Ice Red as a national representative rose to compete with world-class premium roses in a global rose market worth KRW 12 trillion. Pictured: The new rose variety show held on April 2nd. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News

The Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services (GARES) announced on April 3rd that it selected Ice Red as a national representative rose to compete with world-class premium roses in a global rose market worth KRW 12 trillion.

With its fascinating bright velvety-red color, Ice Red received 4.8 points out of 5 from reviewers at a new rose variety show held at the 2nd Experimental Field of the GARES on April 2.

Ice Red was finally born five years after the seeds of a mother plant and the pollen of a father plant were combined in 2010 to develop a unique Korean variety with a reddish color, the representative color of roses.

One hundred fifty-six seeds were obtained in the fall of the first year by cross-fertilizing red varieties renowned in Europe, and repeatedly cultivated over the following four years to select lines favorable in shape, color, yield, resilience and cultivation temperature.

One hundred fifty-five of the first seeds produced died out during the process, leaving only one seed that featured high quality and adaptation. Its code number, GR10-32, is the birth name of Ice Red, indicating Gyeonggi Province, rose, cross-fertilized in 2010, and the 32nd line of seeds.

Its red color is bright and clear, and its size is medium large, ensuring good marketability; moreover, it has a long stem and petals that rise up high at the center, making the flower appear more graceful. Of particular note, with a yield that is 15% higher than other varieties it is expected that farmhouses will highly prefer it.

“We named it Ice Red as its color conveys a pure and innocent image,” said Lee Young-soon, Manager of the Horticultural Breeding Team of GARES who developed Ice Red.

Ice Red received near perfect scores in an evaluation of flower size, thickness, color, shape and petals from seven professional evaluators — a horticultural design professor, florist, auction dealer, and farmers — and from 40 show participants.

Two other varieties also received high scores: GR09-21in two-toned pink, and Yellow Eye with a unique shape in which a green calyx occurs at the center of the flower.

GR09-21 is characterized by its two tones of dark cherry-pink and many petals that indicate its longevity. With its unique calyx style centered among yellow petals, referred to as a tomato type, Yellow Eye has recently been distributed in Europe at a high price.

GARES distributed seeds with the genes of these three varieties to three leading seed companies in Korea. They will multiply these seeds and bring them to the global market starting next year, while also supplying them to domestic farmhouses.

GARES had previously developed a thornless rose named Deep Purple and won the grand prize in the variety contest of Expo Flora Russia  held in Moscow in 2012, and has been causing a sensation in the rose development industry.

Thus far, the GARES has developed 46 new rose varieties, exporting 2.12 million seeds to 19 countries including the world’s biggest producer, Columbia, as well as to Ecuador and Kenya. It received over KRW 1 billion in royalties, of which KRW 200 million has been deposited to Gyeonggi Province’s account as non-tax receipts.

◇ Ice Red conveys a pure and innocent image. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News

ⓒGyeonggi G-News | Park Gwan-sik malbut@kg21.net 

http://gnews.gg.go.kr/news/news_detail.asp?number=201404041125047055C052&s_code=C052