Himachal Agricultural College and Research Institute, Solan
In respect of average number of embryos per seed, mandarin (variety Srinagar) with 8.67 embryos gave the lead and the other species merited in order was mandarin varieties Emperor (6.75) and Butwal (5.63), Kharna Khatta (5.59), Kaghzi Lime (5.13), sweet orange varieties Hamlin (3.99) and Pine-apple (3.61), mandarin Sylhet (2 39), lemon (2.13), mandarin Kinnow (1.92), sweet orange Valencia Late (1.88), sweet lime (1.87) and grape-fruit varieties Duncan (1.58) and Foster (1.53). The pummelo, having 1.02 embryos per seed, was found to be weakly polyembryonic. Mandarin Srinagar possessed 99 per cent polyembryonic seeds. The percentage noted in the other species was kaghzi lime-98, sweet orange varieties Jaffa-96 and Musambi-95, madarin varieties Nagpur-95 and Emperor-94, Kharna Khatta-93, mandarin Butwal-91, sweet orange Hamlin-91, Jambheri-90, sweet orange varieties Blood Red-88 and Pine-apple-87, mandarin Sylhet-71, lemon-65, sweet orange Valencia Late-52, sweet lime-51, mandarin Kinnow-50, grape-fruit varieties Duncan-42 and Foster-36, and the pummelo-2.
The highest range of embryos per seed (1—20) was found in mandarin Emperor and sweet orange Jaffa, and the lowest (1–2) in the pummelo. Higher germination percentage of excised embryos was found to be in direct proportion to their large size.
