Embryo rescue of peach hybrids

The use of embryo culture is important in many classical breeding programmes and has been used to rescue immature embryos from early ripening fruits. The aim of this research is to allow the embryo to develop into a plantlet, without seed development and germination, since embryo abortion may occur during seed development period in early ripening fruits. Embryo rescue was used for hybrids of 'Springtime' peach. When the fruits first started to colour they were harvested and stratified for 21 days at 4°C and several media were tested. Embryo survival was affected by the medium and parentage. The immature embryos of F1 hybrids of all crosses were germinated in MS medium with three different concentrations of BAP or one concentration of GA3. Maximum germination rates were obtained from liquid culture media No.l (MS medium + Sucrose (20 g/1) + BAP (0.5 mg/1)) and No.4 (MS medium + Sucrose (20 g/1) + GA3 (0.1 mg/1))