2 WAYS OF PLANT-REGENERATION FROM IMMATURE COTYLEDONS OF PEA

Two different systems of plant regeneration via organogenesis and embr yogenesis from immature cotyledons of pea (Pisum sativum L.) were deve loped. The first system was direct multiple shoot regeneration from th e proximal to the embryo axis, injured part of cotyledon. The ability of six Polish cultivars to shoot formation was very high. The percent of regenerating cotyledons was from 73 to 86 and mean number of shoots from 3.5 to 9.9 after seven weeks of culture. This multiplification c ould be prolonged for next several months. The second system was somat ic embryogenesis, initiating from the same part of cotyledon simultane ously with slowly proliferating callus. Only three out of six cultivar s formed embryoids. The differences of ability to embryo formation ran ged between 43% of responding explants for Heiga cultivar to only 6% f or Cud Ameryki. The mean number of embryoids was from 4.2 to 2.3.