Abstract
Recovery of doubled haploid (DH) progeny from haploid melon plants for use in breeding programs requires efficient chromosome doubling procedures. We describe improved procedures for recovery of fruits and viable seeds from parthenogenetic melon plants. Plant regeneration from nodal explants treated with 500 mg/L colchicine for 12 h was increased from 40 to 88% by transferring the treated explants to medium supplemented with a combination of growth regulators [5 μM IAA; 5 μM BA; 1 μM ABA; 30 μM AgNO3). Prolonged exposure (2–7 days) to colchicine inhibited regeneration from nodal explants but had less effect on shoot tip explants. Many colchicine-treated plantlets flowered in vitro, allowing early assessment of their male fertility. Production of stained pollen in plants from nodal explants was highest after 0.5–2 days of colchicine treatment and on plants from shoot tips after 1–2 days. In vitro pollen counts correlated well with counts from greenhouse grown plants and with fruit set. The fruit set rate for colchicine-treated plants with a high pollen number was 47%. Appropriate colchicine treatment and culture of nodal explants as well as tip explants can substantially increase the number of fertile plants and DH lines recovered from parthenogenetic melons.
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Abbreviations
- ABA:
-
Abscisic acid
- BA:
-
Benzyladenine
- DH:
-
Doubled haploid
- IAA:
-
Indoleacetic acid
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Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Molly Jahn for providing the starting melon plant materials and Matt Falise for assistance with the plants in the greenhouse. Financial support was provided by the Cornell Vegetable Breeding Institute and by Hatch Project 149–422.
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Lim, W., Earle, E.D. Enhanced recovery of doubled haploid lines from parthenogenetic plants of melon (Cucumis melo L.). Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 98, 351–356 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-009-9563-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-009-9563-5