Abnormal Seedlings Emerged during Embryo Rescue and Its Remedy for Seedless Grape Breeding

The abnormal seedlings, a common physiological anomalies, emerged during embryo rescue severely restricted grape breeding. To enhance the efficiency of the seedless grape breeding by reducing the production of abnormal seedlings in the course of embryo rescue, we investigated the effects of genotype, media type, embryo style, pre-chilling on the deformity rate of the abnormal seedlings during embryo rescue. The abnormal seedlings were firstly classified into seven categories based on their morphology. Our results indicated that the emergence of abnormal seedlings was highly dependent on the female parent genotype. Polyembryony was advantageous to diminish the number of abnormal plantlets and the germination rate of embryo was 100%. We also found that pre-chilling treatment could reduce the number of abnormal plantlets and promote the embryo germination. The abnormal plantlets were reduced significantly by the addition of ZnSO4 10 mu mol.L-1 or mashed-banana 500 mg.L-1 to either embryo development or germination media. Transferring the abnormal seedlings onto the suitable fresh media in 4 weeks after embryo germination provided an effective way to transform them into normal seedlings.