• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.157-160
• /
• 1994

Culture conditions for high Sequency somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration in tissue cultures of sweet potato of two Korean cultivars 'Puyojaerae' and 'Yulmi' are described. Shoot apical meristem explants (height 150 $\mu\textrm{m}$; base: 350 $\mu\textrm{m}$) were cultured on MS medium supplemented with 1 mg/L 2,4-D. After 6 weeks of culture, greater than 80% of the survived explants produced embryogenic calli. When transferred onto MS medium with 0.1 mg/L each of 2,4-D and kinetin, the calli gave rise to somatic embryos at frequencies of 71% ('Puyojaerae') and 63% ('Yulmi'), respectively: When somatic embryos at various developmental stages measured in length were transversely cut into two halves and cultured on MS medium with 1 mg/L 2,L-D, the upper halves produced secondary embryos more frequently than the lower ones, and halves of somatic embryos less than 1 mm in length had a higher competence for secondary embryo formation than longer ones of either cultivar. However 'Puyojaerae' somatic embryo halves showed a higher frequency of secondary embryo formation than 'Yulmi' ones on the whole. Upon transfer onto MS basal medium, most of the primary and secondary somatic embryos underwent development into plantlets. The plantlets were transplanted to potting soil and grown to maturity in a phytotron. The overall results suggest that the shoot apical meristem culture system for somatic embryo formation in sweet potato previously established by us (SABRAOJ 21: 93-101) may be applicable regardless of it genotypes.