EMBRYOGENESIS AND RHIZOGENESIS IN MATURE ZYGOTIC EMBRYOS OF OLIVE (OLEA EUROPAEA L.) CULTIVARS MISSION AND KRONEIKI

Organogenesis and neoformant plantlet production were studied by culturing the different parts of mature embryo including radicle and proximal and distal parts of cotyledon of Mission and Kroneiki cultivars. Different parts of embryos were cultures in OMc medium containing growth regulators, such as indole butyric acid (IBA) and 2-isopentenyl adenine (2-ip) or IBA and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). 21 days old calli were subcultured in medium without growth regulators or with auxin (IBA and NAA). Cultures were maintained in dark or 16h light/8h dark. Differentiation in the explants of Mission and Kroneiki cultivars depended on culture conditions. In both cultivars, the potentiality of embryogenesis in calli from radicle was more than calli from proximal, and in the latter was more than calli from distal parts of cotyledons. In addition, somatic embryogenesis was higher in dark. Subcultures of different parts in medium with auxin inhibited the embryogenesis. Rhizogenesis occurred in subcultures medium with or without auxin and in different photoperiods. In both cultivars the potentiality of rhizogenesis in calli from radicle and calli from different parts of cotyledon were observed. Differences between rhizogenesis from different cultivars and different subculture media were significant.