In-vitro germination of hybrid embryo rescued from low chill peaches as affected by stratification period and embryo age

In-vitro embryo rescue is necessary to recover viable hybrid seeds from low chill peach hybrids, which is an important objective in many stone fruit breeding programmes. The effect of stratification on embryo germination in different parents (SP and FP, SP and P, SP and EG) and their hybrids (H-1 and H-2, H-3 and H-4, H-5 and H-6) indicated that parent show highly germination than their hybrids. The maximum embryo germination in all parents and their respective hybrids were observed when the embryos were stratified for 45 days at 4°C. The highest embryo germination was recorded in parent Partap (78.00%) and hybrid H-3 (Shan-i-Punjab × Partap). The maximum germination (52.56%) was observed after 75 days of crossing, followed by 41.67% after 60 and least 12.45% after 45 days of crossing, while in hybrids, highest germination (40.75%) was recorded in H-2 and least in H-3 (29.5%). The study concluded that embryo rescued at 75 days after crossing gave maximum germination in rescued embryos when stratified at 4°C for 45 days.