Ornamental breeding has traditionally focused on improving novelty, yield, quality, and resistance to biotic or abiotic stress. However, achieving these goals has often required laborious crossbreeding, while precise breeding techniques have been underutilized. Fortunately, recent advancements in plant genome sequencing and editing technology have opened up exciting new frontiers for revolutionizing ornamental breeding. In this review, we provide an overview of the current state of ornamental transgenic breeding and propose four promising breeding strategies that have already proven successful in crop breeding and could be adapted for ornamental breeding with the help of genome editing. These strategies include recombination manipulation, haploid inducer creation, clonal seed production, and reverse breeding. We also discuss in detail the research progress, application status, and feasibility of each of these tactics.

Gypsophila paniculata, belonging to the Caryophyllaceae of the Caryophyllales, is one of the most famous worldwide cut flowers. It is commonly used as dried flowers, whereas the underlying mechanism of flower senescence has not yet been addressed. Here, we present a chromosome-scale genome assembly for G. paniculata with a total size of 749.58 Mb. Whole-genome duplication signatures unveil two major duplication events in its evolutionary history: an ancient one occurring before the divergence of Caryophyllaceae and a more recent one shared with Dianthus caryophyllus. The integrative analyses combining genomic and transcriptomic data reveal the mechanisms regulating floral development and ethylene response of G. paniculata. The reduction of AGAMOUS expression probably caused by sequence polymorphism and the mutation in miR172 binding site of PETALOSA are associated with the double flower formation in G. paniculata. The low expression of ETHYLENE RESPONSE SENSOR (ERS) and the reduction of downstream ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR (ERF) gene copy number collectively lead to the ethylene insensitivity of G. paniculata, affecting flower senescence and making it capable of making dried flowers. This study provides a cornerstone for understanding the underlying principles governing floral development and flower senescence, which could accelerate the molecular breeding of the Caryophyllaceae species.

Despite its rapid growth and economic success, the sustainability of the floriculture industry as it is presently conducted is debatable, due to the huge environmental impacts it initiates and incurs. Achieving sustainability requires joint efforts from all stakeholders, a fact that is often neglected in discussions that frequently focus upon economically driven management concerns. This review attempts to raise awareness and collective responsibility among the key practitioners in floriculture by discussing its sustainability in the context of soil health, as soil is the foundation of agriculture systems. Major challenges posed to soil health arise from soil acidification and salinization stimulated by the abusive use of fertilizers. The poisoning of soil biota by pesticide residues and plastic debris due to the excessive application of pesticides and disposal of plastics is another significant issue and concern. The consequence of continuous cropping obstacles are further elucidated by the concept of plant-soil feedback. Based on these challenges, we propose the adoption and implementation of several sustainable practices including breeding stress-resistant and nutrient-efficient cultivars, making sustainable soil management a goal of floriculture production, and the recycling of plastics to overcome and mitigate the decline in soil health. The problems created by flower waste materials are highlighted and efficient treatment by biochar synthesis is suggested. We acknowledge the complexity of developing and implementing the proposed practices in floriculture as there is limited collaboration among the research and operational communities, and the policymakers. Additional research examining the impacts the floriculture industry has upon soils is needed to develop more sustainable production practices that can help resolve the current threats and to bridge the understanding gap between researchers and stakeholders in floriculture.

Gypsophila paniculata is an ornamental crop with medicinal value. To date, limited information has been reported about the natural products in G. paniculata to explain its medicinal function. The current study reports the natural products found in G. paniculata stem for the first time. Thirty-three compounds were isolated from the extract of G. paniculata stem and identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, 10 of which have contents >2%. These were 2-O-methyl-D-mannopyranose (37.4706%), glycerol (12.5669%), two tetratetracontane isomer (7.6523 + 3.5145%), tetrahygro-4-pyranol (5.3254%), 1,6-anhydro-beta-d-glucopyranos (4.7507%), palmitic acid (4.1848%), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxystyrene (3.7439%), methyl-octadeca-9,12-dienoate (2.7490%), and 2-deoxy-D-galactose (2.6193%). Another bioactive compound, condrillasterol, was identified with 1.3384% content. We also reported that G. paniculata possesses antioxidant activity possibly associated with the presence of a phenolic chemical 4-hydroxy-3-methoxystyrene. Our data collectively demonstrate that G. paniculata contains some bioactive compounds with high contents and antioxidants, consistent with its role as a medicinal herb.

Flower type is the most valuable ornamental trait in floricultural plants, for which the ABCDE model was proposed to explain the identity of each floral organ in flowering plants. The C-class gene AGAMOUS (AG) is responsible for stamen formation and plays an essential role in the double flower phenotype. A previous study in carnation revealed that the mutation in the miR172 binding site of the A-class gene APETALA2 (AP2) leads to petal accumulation. And the expression level of AG was reduced significantly in the double flowers compared with that in the single flowers. However, there was no sequence polymorphism detected between AGs isolated from the double flowers and single flowers. Here, we performed AG analysis using single and semi-double flower carnations, and detected several mutations located in the crucial position like the MADS-box domain in the AGs of semi-double flower carnations while no changes were found at the miR172 binding site of AP2. As a result, the expression levels of AGs are reduced in the semi-double flower carnation, which could be caught by the loss function of AGs. Our data proves that AGs mutations are also associated with the semi-double flower formation in carnation, complementing the lack of research about AG-mutation-associated double flower formation in carnation.