THE INFLUENCE OF AUXIN TYPE ON THE ARRAY OF SOMACLONAL VARIANTS GENERATED FROM SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS OF EGGPLANT, SOLANUM-MELONGENA L

Somaclonal variation is a possible source of variation in plant breedi ng. To apply this approach to eggplant breeding, somaclonal variations were observed among plants regenerated through somatic embryogenesis induced by l-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) or 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Variations including leaf shape, plant height, flower n umber per cluster, fruit shape, anther number per flower and pollen fe rtility were compared among approximate to 300 plants (R-0). Although these variations were confirmed among plants regenerated using both au xins, the frequencies of somaclonal variations in leaf shape, plant he ight, fruit shape and pollen fertility in the NAA experiment were high er than those in the 2,4-D experiment. Variations in flower number and anther number were also confirmed among plants from both experiments, although no significant differences in their frequency were observed. Subsequently, the inheritance of variations (leaf shape, fruit shape, and flower number) observed in R-0 was investigated from generation t o generation (R-1). Variations in leaf shape and fruit shape were inhe rited while those in flower number were not. From these results we con cluded that, although a high frequency of somaclonal variations were o bserved among plants from both methods, embryogenesis with NAA was mor e efficient than 2,4-D in eggplant.