Evaluation of parameters to characterise germination-competent mature somatic embryos of Norway spruce (Picea abies)

Abstract

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is an in vitro clonal propagation method increasingly in use for large scale clonal propagation of conifer plants. However, asynchronous development of immature somatic embryos into mature embryos lowers the yield of plants and limits the benefits for industrial applications. Through the development of an automated harvesting system (SE Fluidics system) for singulation, imaging and selection of mature embryos at the correct developmental stages, yields can be improved. Image analysis software developed for use with the SE Fluidics system has been utilised to characterize and sort mature embryos according to their morphological measurements related to developmental capacity. Here a set of imaging data from the SE Fluidics system has been analysed with the goal of further refining the selection criteria for germination-competent mature embryos.