BIOTECHNOLOGY APPLIED TO GARLIC AND ONION

Techniques for developing virus-free garlic and the rapid multiplication by a systematic scheme of using the virus-free seed garlic on a large scale were obtained. Furthermore, virus-free lines of garlic have been developed and released for production. A system for in vitro garlic and onion germplasm conservation had been achieved. In the system garlic oval culture and the premature embryo rescue were also used for creation and maintenance of the new germplasm. The virus-free gene bank and the bio-information database have been initially built up. Garlic and onion virus diseases occurrence and distribution in the major production area of China have been determined. Garlic genome DNAs were successfully extracted and a reaction system and temperature control program for RAPD used in garlic were optimized. Banding patterns of several garlic lines have been worked out to be used in the identification and analysis of garlic germplasm. Differences in vitro cultured shoots of several garlic lines were irradiated by the ⁶⁰Co γ-ray for estimating radio-sensitivities. And two mutants were found to be genetic variants.