Regeneration of peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) cultivars and Prunus persica x Prunus dulcis rootstocks via organogenesis

Somatic peach plants were regenerated from callus derived from the base of stem explants of the scion cultivars 'UFO-3', 'Maruja', 'Flariba' and 'Alice Bigi', and the peach 9 almond rootstocks 'Garnem' and 'GF677'. A protocol for organogenic plant regeneration was developed using three culture media containing different concentrations of 6-benzyladenine (BA) and indolebutyric acid to produce organogenic calli. Shoots were obtained from sliced calli after their transfer to a differentiation culture medium containing 2 mg l(-1) BA and 1 mg l(-1) alpha-naphthalene acetic acid. Using this procedure, up to 29 regenerated plants per callus were obtained. The highest regeneration rate was obtained with the peach x almond rootstocks. This work provides an effective protocol that could be utilized for peach transformation research.