Manuel Tornel Martinez

Title : Embryo rescue in mediterranean table grapes

Abstract:

The embryo rescue technique has been widely applied to embryo germination of stenospermic grapesin breeding programmes. In the stenospermocarpic genotype, the embryo abort after fertilization during development, so the selection of the sampling time and the growth medium are the most crucial to the success of this technique. This study investigated the effect of best sampling time and media composition on embryo rescue to avoid the high mortality rate. We sampled ovules 5 to 9 weeks after flowering,and we tried adding benzylaminopurine (BA) to the culture medium. The greatest percentages of embryo germination and normal plantlets were obtained when ovules were harvest at 8 weeks after flowering, indicating that it is suitable to harvest ovules at veraison. Murashige and Skoog medium with salts dissolved in half (MS1/2) was used with BA 0; 0,5 and0,25 mM. The percentage of embryos that developed cotyledons and roots were 5,8% with MS1/2 medium, 30,9% with MS1/2+BA 0,5mM and 42,7% with MS1/2+BA 0,25mM. Therefore, the 8-weeks-after-flowering harvest time and the MS1/2+BA 0,25mM medium were selected for use in the embryo rescue protocol in our breeding program.

Biography:

Agronomist engineer and phD in agricultural research, lead the table grapes team of IMIDA, public institute of agrarian research. We developed together ITUM a genetic breeding program to obtain new seedless table grapes varieties with the use of biotechnological techniques such as in vitro culture and molecular markers for obtaining hybrids; in the field we use hormonal growth regulators (PGR). Breeder of 18 new varieties of which around 1.200 ha are grown in Spain; the first commercial farms are being planted in Chile, Peru and Australia; and in coming years in South Africa, Brazil and Mexico; two of the varieties have powdery mildew resistance genes, we are now focused on biological agriculture. Speaker at international congresses in Singapour, Mexico, Chile, Italy, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Greece; and poster in Australia, Hong Kong and France. Actually, have more than 100 Plant Breeders Rights applications in the world.