In vitro germination of three olive cultivars

Abstract

Olive seedlings are used in breeding programs as well as rootstocks for<br><br>grafting of hard–to–root cultivars. However, olive seed germination is not easy, low<br><br>and slow germination rate are some of the persisted problems. In vitro germination of<br><br>isolated embryos could be a useful method for increasing the efficiency of germination.<br><br>One of the main following objectives in embryo culture is the isolation of<br><br>embryo from the endosperm that contains inhibitory germination substances. This<br><br>results to shortening of reproductive cycle and the necessary time for obtaining seedlings.<br><br>In this study, the embryo germination potential of three olive cultivars<br><br>including \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Manzanilla\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' and two Iranian cultivars i.e. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Dezful\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' and \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Zard\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' was<br><br>evaluated. Also the effect of three harvesting times (middle of August, September and<br><br>October) on growth and development of embryos was studied. Aseptically isolated<br><br>embryos were cultured in MS medium with one third of macro elements and placed<br><br>in growth chamber at 25°C day, 21°C night with 16-h photoperiod. According to<br><br>results, some differences were revealed between germination percent of embryos and<br><br>the following growth of them. The highest germination percent and seedling<br><br>formation was obtained at the first culture time with means of 86 and 73 percent,<br><br>respectively. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Dezful\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' cultivar with 90% germination and 79% seedling formation<br><br>showed the highest values.