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UV-irradiated cotyledonary protoplasts of Solanum integrifolium and iodoacetamide-treated cotyledonary protoplasts of S. sanitwongsei were electrofused and cultured. Regenerated plants were classified into three groups based on morphology and genomic in situ hybridization data. Morphology of the first group was intermediate between those of parental species. The plants bore fruits with viable seeds and had a chromosome number of 2nϭ48, the sum of the parental chromosome numbers, suggesting that they were symmetric fusion hybrids. Morphology of the plants in the second group was more S. integrifolium-like than that of the first group, and had two sets of S. integrifolium chromosomes and one set of S. sanitwongsei chromosomes. In contrast, plants in the third group had one set of S. integrifolium chromosomes and two sets of S. sanitwongsei chromosomes. Plants in the second and third groups were less vigorous than those in the first group, and bore few fruits. Electrophoretic analysis of the isozymes shikimate dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, and phosphoglucomutase, as well as random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis, demonstrated that 23 of regenerated plants from the three groups were somatic hybrids. The plants in the first group grew more vigorously than the parental plants and produced more than 5000 seeds per plant. The fertile somatic hybrids obtained in this study may be suitable candidates for eggplant rootstocks.Key words: Eggplant rootstock, fertile somatic hybrids, genomic in situ hybridization, Solanum integrifolium, Solanum sanitwongsei.Plant Biotechnology 24, 179-184 (2007) Original PaperAbbreviations: GISH, genomic in situ hybridization; RAPD, random amplified polymorphic DNA; UV, ultra-violet early stages of eggplant production. Moreover, its thinner stem is a limiting factor for its use as a rootstock because it makes grafting more difficult. Therefore, it has been desired to produce a novel rootstock with vigorous growth and resistances to both Fusarium wilt and bacterial wilt by crossing these two rootstock species. In the genus Solanum, McCammon and Honma (1983) succeeded in producing interspecific hybrids between S. melongena and S. torvum, but the F 1 plants were sterile. Interspecific hybrids have also been produced between S. melongena and S. sisymbriifolium using an embryo rescue technique but they died within a few days (Sharma et al. 1984). Similarly, our repeated trial of crossing failed to produce the F 1 hybrid between the two target rootstock species, S. integrifolium and S. sanitwongsei.To overcome the difficulty in interspecific hybridization, somatic hybridization is considered to be an alternative technique for producing the interspecific hybrids and a number of somatic hybrids have previously been produced in the genus Solanum (Gleddie et al. 1986;Guri and Sink 1988;Daunay et al. 1993;Asao et al. 1994). In the present study, we report the successful results on the production of somatic hybrids between S. integrifolium and S. sanitwongsei, and their prelimin...

Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is widely cultivated in tropical and temperate regions worldwide (Kallo 1993); however, in certain production areas it is susceptible to bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, Fusarium wilt due to Fusarium oxysporum, and Verticillium wilt attributable to Verticillium dahliae. In Japan, grafting is the most popular technique for avoiding soil-borne diseases in eggplants. Among the rootstock species, S. integrifolium, which is vigorous until the later stages of eggplant production, is resistant to Fusarium wilt and is the most common rootstock in Japan (Tachibana 1994). Although this species was reported to be somewhat resistant to bacterial wilt when compared to eggplant cultivars (Sheela et al. 1984, Ozaki and Kimura 1989), scions on this rootstock are severely damaged by the pathogen. Three wild species (S. abutiloides, S. scabrum, and S. toxicarium) are highly resistant to bacterial wilt and Verticillium wilt (Mochizuki and Yamakawa 1979; Sakata 1991), but they are not currently used as rootstocks because of their disadvantages, including graft incompatibility, thin stems, and slow growth (Sakata 1991). Somatic hybridization is a technique of incorporating desirable genes from related species into cultivated crops (

Considering the demand for transforming poultry waste into eco-friendly manure, we carbonized chicken manure at 402, 449 and 528°C and determined the physicochemical properties. We evaluated the effectiveness of the ensuing carbonized chicken manure (CCM) as a fertilizer using Brassica rapa, var. komatsuna and Oryza sativa L., var. japonica, cv. Koshihikari, in the upland and the paddy field soil, respectively. Herein, we carried out duplicate treatment of CCM (carbonized at 528°C) either alone or in combination with nitrogen and measured the growth from three or more plants. The plots with the recommended chemical fertilizers containing nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) and with no fertilizers were used as controls for growth measurement. The vessel tests indicated that when applied alone, the CCM plot could not support the normal growth of both the plants. However, the CCM plot restored the plant growth with simultaneous application of nitrogen, and the growth in the CCM ? N plot was comparable to that observed in the NPK plot. By estimating the growth in the NPK plots as 100%, the growth percentages of fresh weights of komatsuna were 12% in the CCM plot, 79% in the N plot and 99% in the CCM ? N plot. Likewise, the plant heights of Koshihikari were 43% in the CCM plot, 77% in the N plot and 99% in the CCM ? N plot. Our data suggest CCM supplementation to N fertilizers as a potential replacement of inorganic fertilizers like P and K for effective environmental management.