A research on the utilization possibilities of embryo culture in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill)

Abstract

This study was conducted with the aim of determining the utilization of embryo culture in tomato. Reciprocal crosses were carried out using the tomato (L. esculentum) cultivars "Rio Grande", "H 2274", "Tivoli", "Ontario 7710", "P.19" and wild tomato species L. pimpinellifolium and L. peruvianum. No problem was encountered with the crosses carried out by using L. pimpinellifolium; 24 days old embryos obtained from the crosses in which L. pimpinellifolium was used as male or female parent were isolated and cultured on two different nutrient media. At the end of the trials, the male or female parent used, nutrient medium, and the interaction of these two factors were determined to affect the "Survival Ratio" and "Whole Plant Forming Ratio". Some problems were encountered in the crosses with L. peruvianum; no fruits could be obtained when L. peruvianum was the female parent due to unilateral incompatibility, whereas fruits were obtained when this wild species was the male parent, however, the embryos in these fruits were determined to be aborted. This type of fruits had no embryos to be excised even on the 40(th) day after pollination, and these seeds were not able to germinate even when they were put on suitable nutrient media. Therefore, in L. esculentum x L. peruvianum crosses, an attempt was made to obtain plantlets via callus formation from the seeds with aborted embryos as an alternative to embryo culture.