PLOIDY MANIPULATIONS OF KIWIFRUIT IN TISSUE CULTURE

Doubling of chromosome number was undertaken to facilitate the crossing of diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid Actinidia species, and to improve fertility in some hybrids.
Application of colchicine to meristems of glasshouse-grown plants was unsuccessful, but a combination of colchicine treatment and tissue culture regeneration produced tetraploid plants from diploid Actinidia chinensis Planch. var. chinensis. However, generation of tetraploid plants via callus from colchicine-treated stem segments was slow compared with untreated controls.
Haploid tissue of Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C.F. Liang et A.R. Ferguson var. deliciosa was also investigated for its response to this treatment.

Endosperm culture was studied as an alternative means of manipulating ploidy level.
Callus of variable chromosome number and genetic balance was obtained.
Regeneration from this callus gave rise to mixoploid plants, but continued culture and regeneration cycles usually led to stabilisation of chromosome number.

Discrimination between plants of different ploidy levels by measuring the length of the stomatal guard cells was possible if the plants were from the same genetic background.
This method of ploidy assessment must be used with caution on material of different genotypes within a species.

II International Symposium on Kiwifruit

Lena G. Fraser, C. F. Harvey, J. Kent

Actinidia chinensis, Actinidia deliciosa, colchicine, endosperm culture, chromosome number

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1992.297.12