Peach Regeneration from Callus Derived from Embryos of Selected Cultivars

Abstract

Thirteen peach cultivars were used in experiments to produce somaclonal variants from embryo culture. In the first and second years of the project, a total of 5,172 immature peach embryos were excised and used in the protocol. Initially, 45% of the immature embryos formed friable callus in the first three weeks of culture. One hundred plantlets (1987) 85 plantlets (1988) formed in culture, however a large number failed to develop further due to their inability to form roots and some rooted plantlets were lost during acclimation to greenhouse conditions. The two year study produced 54 plantlets which formed root systems. The difficulty in obtaining large numbers of plants from adapted cultivars limits this in vitro technique for use in screening programs for pathogen resistance in peach in Ontario.