IN VITRO GERMINATION OF HYBRID EMBRYOS FROM INTERPLOIDAL CROSSES OF CITRUS
ASIM MEHMOOD1, MUHAMMAD JAFAR JASKANI1*, YASAR SAJJAD1, IFTIKHAR AHMAD2 AND ZAHOOR HUSSAIN3
Abstract:
Interploid crosses between Feutrell’s early (2x), Kinnow mandarin (2x),
Succari sweet orange (2x) and Kinnow (4x) were made for the production
of triploid hybrids. Maximum fruit set (100%) was observed between
crosses of Kinnow (2x) X Kinnow (4x) and maximum June drop (95.5%) was
noted when diploid Succari as female parent was crossed with tetraploid
Kinnow. The hybrid
fruits
harvested after 12–14 weeks or 7 months after pollination produced many
underdeveloped and few developed
seeds;
however, tetraploid Kinnow as
seed
parent yielded more developed
seeds
per
fruit.
Immature
embryos
of seeds
harvested 12–14 weeks after pollination were cultured In vitro on
MS medium supplemented with adenine sulphate (0.25 g l−1),
malt extract (0.5 g l−1) and sucrose (50 g l−1).
Maximum
germination
(58.6%) of hybrid
embryos
from developed
seeds
was obtained in 4x X 2xcross
of Kinnow strains.
1Institute
of Horticultural Sciences University of Agriculture, Faisalabad,
Pakistan,
2College
of Agriculture, D.G. Khan, Pakistan, 3College of Agriculture,
Sargodha, Pakistan