Determination of polyembryony formation frequencies of grape cultivars with different seed structures in embryo culture

The development of more than one embryo in a single seed is called as polyembryony. Polyembryony shows that the potential for embryo formation is not limited to zygote, and that various somatic cells may also have this potential. Several mechanisms may be operative in grape that give rise to nature polyembryony. Polyembryony in grapevine is difficult to observe and evaluate at the same time it has limited literature. Here, polyembryony formation frequencies in embryo culture of grape cultivars with three different seed structures (seeded, empty seeded and stenospermocarpic seedless) were studied. Accordingly, when stenospermocarpic seedless grape cultivars were used, a higher tendency to form polyembryony was detected compared to the others. When ‘Tekirdağ Misketi’, a stenospermocarpic seedless grape cultivar, was used as the maternal parent in the breeding combination, it formed 7.5% polyembryony. On the other hand, when the ‘Bozcaada Çavuşu’ cultivar, known as empty-seed, was used as the maternal parent in the breeding combination, the lowest rate of polyembryony (between 1.74 and 2.06%) was detected.