Comparison of somatic embryogenesis and embryo conversion in commercial soybean cultivars

✍ Scribed by Jia Li; Elizabeth A. Grabau

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 217 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-6857
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00045918

✦ Synopsis

Six commercially important soybean cultivars and one control cultivar were compared for differences in inductionefficiency of somatic embryogenesis, primary embryo yield, and embryo conversion. Cotyledons from immature seeds of similar developmental stage for all soybean cultivars were used for embryo induction. The experiments utilized a Latin square design to exclude the effect of differential lighting and position due to plate location in the growth chamber on the embryogenesis process. Results indicated that the efficiency of embryo induction and yield of primary somatic embryos were genotype-dependent. In contrast, no dependence on genotype was observed for the conversion of embryos to form roots and shoots. The percentage of cotyledons that gave a positive embryogenic response ranged from 26 to 89% for the soybean cultivars tested. The average number of primary globular-stage embryos per responding cotyledon after one month on induction medium ranged from 6 to 13 among the seven cultivars. Conversion frequencies for all genotypes ranged from 27 to 45%.