SUCCESSFUL ESTABLISHMENT OF IN VITRO CULTURES OF PRUNUS CERASIFERA HYBRIDS BY EMBRYO CULTURE OF IMMATURE FRUITS

Rapid obtaining of clonal plants is desirable to shorten crossing programs in fruit tree breeding.
In this work, seedling germination and multiplication in vitro allowed us to establish successful in vitro cultures of hybrid seedlings.
As a part of a breeding program in apricot rootstocks, we have obtained interespecific hybrid seeds after cross-pollination: myrobalan x apricot (Prunus cerasifera x armeniaca). Immature fruits were harvested and embryos, isolated in aseptic conditions, were grown in culture medium.
From a total of 419 seeds, we obtained a germination rate of 81.4%, succeeding in the rescue of 73% of aborting seeds.
The successful micropropagation and acclimatization methods applied, yielded a high number of cloned plants from every cultured embryo, allowing us to obtain soil-established plants in a very short time.
Advantages of in vitro germination and micropropagation versus conventional methods have been assessed from the point of view of the length of the process and the number of clonal plants obtained.

I International Symposium on Acclimatization and Establishment of Micropropagated Plants

A. Arbeloa, M.E. Daorden, E. García, J.A. Marín

Apricot, embryo rescue, micropropagation, myrobalan, rootstock breeding

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2003.616.56