In vitro culture of immature embryos from Koelreuteria bipinnata var. integrifoliola

For the mass production of Koelreuteria bipinnata var. integrifoliola with selected, hybrid or genetically engineered genotypes, one potentially desirable propagation strategy is based on embryo culture. The immature embryo development in vitro from K. bipinnata var. integrifoliola was studied under different conditions of embryo age, basic culture media and plant growth regulators. The results show that: 1) germination rate of grade 3 embryos in immature seeds with 0.6–0.8 cm diameter was 98.9%. The germination rate of grade 2 embryos in immature seeds with 0.4–0.6 cm diameter was 77.8% and the germination rate of grade 1 embryos in immature seeds with 0.4 cm diameter was 15.6%. 2) The amounts of macroelements in MS medium had no clear effect on the germination rate of immature grade 3 embryos and had a modest effect on plantlet growth, where the best medium was MS or 1/2 MS. The rates were all greater than 90%. 3) The germination rate of grade 3 embryos was greater than 87% when the medium contained a low concentration of NAA or no plant growth regulators at all and decreased markedly when BAP alone or BAP and NAA together were added to the media. We suggest that in vitro culture of immature embryos from K. bipinnata var. integrifoliola can be enhanced when a small amount of plant growth regulators is added. The addition of BAP has an adverse reaction to the germination and development of immature embryos.