Assessing the Ability of Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. Plus Tree Clones From the Middle Taiga Subzone of Karelia to Somatic Embryogenesis

The results of a study of somatic embryogenesis in Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.), growing in the middle taiga subzone in the Republic of Karelia (Russia), are presented. Immature zygotic embryos were collected from ten clones of plus trees at the Petrozavodsk Seed Orchard and a tree in Petrozavodsk at a sum of effective temperatures from 728 to 1257 degree days (at a base temperature of 5°C). It has been found that it is necessary to use the LM nutrient medium as a substrate for the induction of somatic embryogenesis and proliferation of cell lines and embryos at the development stages from globular to cotyledonary as explants. After 14 months of cultivation, 12 of 26 (56%) cell lines obtained from explants from the Petrozavodsk Seed Orchard and two cell lines of 23 (9%) from a tree in Petrozavodsk were preserved. As a result of the study, maternal genotypes of clones of plus trees of Norway spruce, capable of forming an embryonic suspensor mass, long-term proliferation, and the formation of regenerated plants were identified.