Breeding is a traditional activity at Mansuino’s, it began about one century ago thanks to Quinto Mansuino and then never stopped.
Andrea Mansuino started breeding roses in 1987, targeting small flowered cut roses in the same lines of the roses bred by Quinto and Domenico jr.. The range so obtained was known as Romini® and was commercially introduced in Italy, France and Japan in the early nineties.
In 1994 Andrea joined as partner the international rose breeding company NIRP INTERNATIONAL and from 2001 he supervises the cut roses breeding program, initially held in Cuers, France, and later in Bevera, Italy and at NEA, Naivasha, Kenya. This breeding activity still goes on.
In 2012 Andrea began a new program of genetic improvement on Hydrangeas, in cooperation with CREA, the Italian network of institutes of research in agriculture, in particular with the researchers of the Institute based in Pescia, Tuscany (CREA-VIV), a team of biologists led by Dr. Beatrice Nesi.
After many years of agricultural research, now the project has reached a satisfactory stage and in 2019 the cooperation established between MANSUINO srl and CREA-OF aims at breeding and selecting new Hydrangea Macrophylla varieties to be introduced in the cut flower market, as well as, in a near future, in the pot and the garden markets.
The production of seeds takes place in the Azienda Agricola Mansuino in Sanremo, where a collection of parents is cultivated and plants are pollinated and grown. Such seeds are harvested when ripe, and transferred to the Institute in Pescia, where the researchers process them through embryo rescue, vitro germination and vivo germination techniques.
The seedlings are then transferred to Sanremo again, where they are planted and grown for selections.
Based on the experience on roses, and carnations, the codes selected from seedlings are as soon as possible transferred to Colombia, China, Kenya and other test places, to assess their performance in different climates.
