Influence of medium addition and agitation on the production of embryos in isolated microspore culture of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

The influences of the agitation as well as the addition of medium during culture on the production of embryos were invested in isolated microspore culture of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). When the culture medium was added during initial liquid culture step of liquid-double layer culture, the embryo yield and quality greatly increased. The most effective time point for medium addition was 5 days after the culture commenced. On the other hand, the effect of medium addition at later double layer culture step in liquid-double layer culture on the embryo production was less compared to that of medium addition during the initial liquid culture step. Agitating the culture for 1 week during later double layer culture step in liquid-double layer culture effectively increased the production of normal cotyledonary embryos. In the case of liquid culture, agitating the culture for 1 week from 7 days after the culture commenced was also effective for embryo development. However, when the total agitation time was longer (2 to 3 weeks) during liquid-double layer culture or liquid culture, the embryos developed abnormally in both cases. The normal cotyledonary embryos obtained in this study successfully developed to plants when transferred to regeneration media. These regenerated plants were either diploid or haploid, and there was a difference in the number of chloroplasts between guard cells of diploid and haploid. These results can be used as an important data for developing an efficient microspore culture system with high quality embryo production in hot pepper.