Regeneration of Somatic Hybrids Between Festuca Arundinacea var. glacescens and Lolium multiflorum LAM.

Abstract

Protoplasts derived from ten suspension cultures of tetraploid Festuca arundinacea var. glaucescens (2n = 4x = 28) and diploid Lolium multiflorum Lam. (2n = 2x =14) were fused to produce somatic hybrids. Regenerated green plants in three fusion combinations were identified as somatic hybrids because they showed characters that were peculiar to both Festuca arundinacea var. glaucescens (hairs on auricle) and Lolium multiflorum Lam. (root-fluorescence). Moreover, the hybrids also had a chromosome number of about forty two