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Seedlessness is a primary breeding objective for citrus fresh fruit market, and triploids have been proven to have great value to produce seedless fruits. In this study, aiming to produce triploid plants for developing some seedless cultivars, four 2x × 4x interploid crosses were conducted using three elite but seedy cultivars as seed parents and one newly flowered doubled diploid and two allotetraploid somatic hybrids as pollen parents. As a result, a total of 1454 developed and 3409 undeveloped seeds from 341 fruits were obtained. Using an optimized embryo rescue approach, 669 developed and 1301 undeveloped seeds germinated in vitro, with an average germination rate as 52.5% for the crosses using ‘Nadorcott’ tangor and ‘Bendizao’ tangerine (polyembryonic) as seed parents and 31.0% for the crosses using ‘Orah’ mandarin (monoembryonic) as seed parent. Then by shoot and root induction, totally 1354 plantlets were regenerated, among which 401 and 54 plants were proved to be triploids and tetraploids by flow cytometry (FCM) analysis and chromosome counting. Hybrid nature of the selected triploid progenies, as well as two different origins (doubled diploid and hybrid origins) for the selected tetraploid progenies was further confirmed by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers.

Interspecific hybridization is an excellent way to create germplasm resources and is considered an important driver of genome evolution. We selected one Chinese cabbage variety and one red cabbage variety for hybridization. Heterologous haploid offspring were obtained by embryo rescue, and heterologous diploids were obtained by colchicine-induced chromosomal doubling. The field traits and simple sequence repeat markers of 98 F2 plants were investigated. The result showed that the parental traits were separated in the hybrids, with traits tending to shift from those of Chinese cabbage to those of red cabbage, and trait values showed normal distributions. Simple sequence repeat patterns varied, with the number of missing bands being significantly greater than that of novel bands in hybrids. Thus, the phenotypes of the early formed allopolyploids were unstable and accompanied by dramatic changes in the genome. This study not only increased the genetic resources available for B. napus but also laid a theoretical foundation for exploring trait segregation in early formed allopolyploids.

Interspecific hybridization is often hindered by incompatibility reactions occurring at various stages of hybridization, from early pollination to initial growth and reproductive stages of the progeny. Characterization of reproductive barriers leads to further understanding of how each species recognizes its own identity and supports the development of methods to overcome the barrier and produce interspecific hybrids. We investigated interspecific cross-(in)compatibility among five species in Prunus (Rosaceae), namely P. armeniaca, P. avium, P. mume, P. persica and P. salicina. In vivo pollen tube growth tests showed the presence of a post-mating pre-zygotic barrier in many cross combinations. Irrespective of the crossing direction, reduced pollen tube growth was observed in interspecific hybridization with P. avium, a species phylogenetically remote from the other species. Different compatibility reactions in reciprocal crosses were observed in some interspecific hybridizations. P. persica as a pollen donor was compatible with P. mume and P. salicina, while the reciprocal cross was incompatible. Furthermore, P. salicina as a pistil parent accepted pollen from P. armeniaca, P. mume and P. persica, while P. salicina was cross-incompatible with those species in reciprocal crosses. These results suggest that not only the phylogenetic relationship but also other mechanisms may be involved in interspecific cross-(in)compatibility. Embryo rescue culture showed the presence of a post-zygotic barrier in the cross between P. mume as seed parent and P. persica as pollen parent. Factors affecting interspecific hybridization are discussed with special reference to genetic distance between parents and morphological characters such as pistil length.

sInterspecific hybridization is widely observed within diverse eukaryotic taxa and is considered an important driver of genome evolution. We selected one flowering Chinese cabbage variety and one broccoli variety for hybridization. Heterologous haploid offspring were obtained by embryo rescue, and heterologous diploids were obtained by colchicine-induced chromosomal doubling. The field traits and simple sequence repeat markers of 124 F2 plants were investigated. We also analyzed the nutritional components of the parental and 10 progeny F2 plants. The parental traits were separated in the hybrids, with traits tending to shift from those of flowering Chinese cabbage to those of broccoli, and trait values showed normal distributions. Simple sequence repeat patterns varied, with the number of missing bands being significantly greater than that of novel bands in hybrids. Additionally, there were higher levels of some nutritional components in the hybrids compared with in the parents. Thus, the phenotypes of the early formed allopolyploids were unstable and accompanied by dramatic changes in the genome. Hybrids showed new traits and high levels of nutritional components. This study not only increased the genetic resources available for flowering Chinese cabbage but also laid a theoretical foundation for exploring trait segregation in early formed allopolyploids.

To breed excellent cultivars with prosperous fragrant flowers, long flowering period, and high resistance to hardiness, three Primula forbesii (Sect. Monocarpicae) cultivars (2n=2x=18) and P. saxatilis (Sect. Cortusoides) (2n=2x=24) were used as parents for hybridization. Fourteen progenies were obtained from three cross combinations of P. forbesii as maternal parent by embryo rescue. Eventually, 12 progenies were proved to be true hybrids (2n=2x=21) by flow cytometry, chromosome counting and amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis. All the hybrids had long lasting flowering period just like P. forbesii, and their leaf back and scapes were not covered by white powder like P. saxatilis. The hybrid progenies were more similar to their male parent P. saxatilis by phenotypes analysis. Pollen of hybrids was abnormal and the germination rates were very low (3.18%–0.23%). Phenomena such as chromosome outside the equatorial plate, lagging chromosomes, chromosome bridges, micronucleus and polyads happened during the process of pollen mother cell meiosis, resulting pollen abortion finally. The results of backcrossing with their parents as pollen donators indicated that the pollen was able to germinate on the stigma surface and pollen tubes could extend into the hybrids’ ovules. It was showed that the inter-section hybrids could be used as female parent, but could not be used as pollen donator in continuing hybridization.

Interspecific hybridization was carried out between cultivated eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) and its wild relative Solanum aculeatissimum, which has root-knot nematode and verticillium wilt resistance for eggplant improvement. The amphidiploid was obtained by embryo rescue and chromosome doubling. Comparisons of morphology, combined with flow cytometric, cytology, and SSR analyses confirmed the hybrid nature of the amphidiploid. The amphidiploid differed in morphology from both parent plants. The amphidiploid is shrub type, with thorns on leaves and stems, which is the typical character of S. aculeatissimum. Cytological analysis showed normal pairing between the two genomes occurred, although multivalents were observed, however, the pollen viability of the amphidiploid was lower compared to both parent plants. SSR analysis showed that the amphidiploid contained genomic fragments from both parents, further indicating the hybrid nature. The results from our study suggest that novel traits may be incorporated in eggplant breeding through the production of amphidiploid and the backcrossing of these plants with elite cultivars.

The aim of this research was to overcome abortion postzygote incompatibility, and rescuing of hybrid embryos of early and mid-ripening plum cultivars, obtained from interspecific crossing between two plum cultivars (P. salicina L.) as female parents with four apricot cultivars (P. armeniaca L.) as male parents. The effects of cultivar, embryo developmental stage, plant growth regulators (PGRs), cold treatment, embryo size and removing seed coats were investigated on embryo germination at in vitro conditions. Results showed that the best conditions for embryo rescue were: harvesting embryos at 65 d after pollination (DAP) (91.33%), using completed MS medium with 0.5 mgL−1 6-benzyladenine (BA) and 1 mgL−1 indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), and embryo Stratification for 65 and 75 DAP- embryos at 4 °C for 30 d. Larger embryos testa removing treatment showed higher germination rates. Additionally, artificial neural networks (ANNs) was used to model two outputs which are the embryo generation percentage (GP) and complete plant percentage (CFP) based on three inputs including BA, IBA and embryo developmental stage (EDS). According to Multilayer 29 Perceptron (MLP), the best germination rate (100%) and the highest percentage of complete plant (100%) can be obtained by culturing the embryos at 65 DAP on MS medium containing 0.69 mgL−1 BA and 0.95 mgL−1 IBA, or at 75 DAP on MS medium containing 0.94 mgL−1 BA and 0.98 mgL−1 IBA. The MLP results showed a high correlation between the expected and the experimental values, which was 91.99%, 89.33% for GP and CFP, respectively. The results of the traditional statistical analysis by using Two Way ANOVA method were consistent with the results of the model obtained using MLP. Taking as a whole, this research developed an optimal protocol that may be useful in rescuing plum embryos in breeding programs.

Great achievements have been reached in ornamental lily breeding, however, there is little work on edible lily breeding. In order to breed edible lilies as good as ornamental ones, in the present study, two edible lilies, Lilium brownii var. viridulum and L. davidii var. unicolor, were mainly investigated for their microsporogenesis, hybridization, genomic differences, and hybrid identity and fertility using conventional and modern cytogenetic techniques. The results showed that both L. brownii var. viridulum and L. davidii var. unicolor had normal meiosis and fertility; their hybrids could be obtained through cut style pollination and embryo rescue only when L. brownii var. viridulum was used as female and L. davidii var. unicolor as male; the hybrids were male sterile and the two genomes of their hybrids could be distinguished with genomic in situ hybridization. The results are similar to what observed in ornamental LA, OA, OT, and LO lily hybrids. It is concluded that L. brownii var. viridulum and L. davidii var. unicolor are distantly related and the hybrids are promise to breed allotriploid edible lilies in the next few years.

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is the most commonly used mechanisms for developing F1 hybrids in Brassica oleracea. Ogura cytoplasm is the only source of CMS system used widely in B. oleracea and diversification of CMS system is needed to avoid any imminent epidemic. We have developed sesquidiploids and backcross progenies involving the cybrid, B. napus with B. tournefortii (Tour) cytoplasm and B. oleracea for development of novel CMS system through different approaches of in vitro embryo rescue. Maturity of the ovaries and ovules were found to play important role in recovery of inter-specific hybrids through embryo rescue. The male sterility conferred by ‘Tour’ cytoplasm was partially restored by Rf genes in the B. oleracea nuclear genome and identification of perfect maintainer is necessary in developing ‘Tour’ based CMS system. The analysis of the sesquidiploid F1 hybrids and back-cross progenies revealed frequent occurrence of A and C sub-genome aneuploids and euploids. Chromosome elimination and fragmentation of the A and C genome specific linkage groups indicated the role of autosysndesis and allosyndesis in the AnCnCo sesquidiploid. The dominance of the B. napus like gametes was also evident in the first backcross progenies. The developed back-cross population with ‘Tour’ cytoplasm will be useful in developing stable CMS system in B. oleracea as an alternative to the available Ogura based lines for commercial hybrid breeding programme.

Hybrid cherry seedlings are very hard to obtain as the embryos easily abort during development and loose germination ability, especially some interspecific hybrids. An in vitro technique of embryo rescue has been developed for intra- and interspecific hybrids with the embryos by crossing 4 sweet cherry genotypes as maternal, and these have been planted in South China where the climate is not ideal for planting sweet cherry due to its hot and humid climate in summer and warm climate in winter. The success of embryo rescue approach is affected by several factors, in which the genotypes are one of the main factors for embryo germination and significant differences were found with the same genotypes that were used differently either as maternal or paternal in cross breeding. ‘Chaoyang-1’ (‘CY-1’) as mother performed the best, and ‘Zijing’ (‘ZJ-1’) and ‘CY-1’ were the best parents as fathers in cross breeding. The embryo development stage, breaking dormancy method and in vitro culture condition significantly affected the efficiency of seedlings production. When the development of their embryos reached to 0.5 to 0.7, then the young fruit was harvested and stored at 4 °C for 35 days were found to be the best initiating materials for culturing, and the embryo germination rates after removal of the embryo coat reached up to 69.84 ± 2.75 %, and their shoots were robustly and fastly grown. The medium when combined with different concentrations of plant growth regulators (PGRs) were tested, the optimal medium for immature embryo culturing was found to be 1/2 MS supplemented with 2 mg L−1 BA and 1.8 mg L−1 IAA, the multiplication of shoots culture media was MS +0.3 mg L−1 BA +0.4 mg L−1 IAA or MS +0.7 mg L−1 BA +0.1 mg L−1 IAA, the 1/2 MS medium supplemented with 0.3 mg L−1 IBA and 1.1 mg L−1 IAA showed the best for the rooting of shoots. Taken together, this system by integrating the genotypes, embryo development and in vitro culture condition with pre-treatments together significantly improved the rates of production of hybrid cherry seedlings. This is the first study to systematically explore all these factors on cherry embryo rescue in order to produce hybrid seedlings to breed new cultivars for the subtropical monsoon climatic areas like South China and provide new insights to keep the micropropagation of hybrid shoots with different PGRs.

Embryo development is the precursor of seeds, which are important to produce interspecific hybrid plants. The objective of this study was to investigate the embryo development of interspecific crosses between Hibiscus species and provide useful information, for the timely embryo rescue of potential F1 progenies. Hibiscus species were hand-pollinated and tagged on the day of anthesis. Starting two days after pollination (DAP), the pods were collected for observation under a stereomicroscope. Hibiscus species showed three stages of embryo development. Endosperm formation in the cross-pollinated ovules occurred from 2 to 7 DAP for H. sinosyriacus and 2–4 DAP for H. moscheutos in stage I. The ovules slowly increased in size. Embryo development was observed from 8 to 13 DAP in H. sinosyriacus and 5–8 DAP in H. moscheutos at stage II. The endosperm triggered the development of the embryo. Then, the endosperm supported the embryo histodifferentiation through globular, heart, and torpedo-shaped stages inside the growing ovule in stage III. After reaching the maximum ovule size, embryo growth until maturation occurred from 14 to 30 DAP in H. sinosyriacus, and 9–15 DAP in H. moscheutos at stage III. The embryo completely absorbed the endosperm, and the mature embryo fully occupied the ovule in stage III. As a result, ovules from cross-pollinated deciduous shrub-type H. sinosyriacus exhibited slower embryo development compared with the perennial H. moscheutos with fast embryo maturation. Embryo rescue may be possible starting at Stage II because the globular embryo can be observed under the microscope.

Seedless grapevine cultivars (Vitis vinifera L.) are widely grown in Europe, America and Asia. Abortion of zygotic embryos in seedless grapes largely limits the efficiency of breeding of seedless cultivars through genetic crossing. The present study was designed to investigate effects of exogenously applied plant growth regulators (PGRs) to the grapevines in field condition on ovule and subsequent embryo rescue of seedless grapes of small seed traces. First experiment was performed by measuring ovules weight, proportion of each category ovules in maturity and embryo development in vitro of seedless grape cv. Centennial Seedless, Thompson Seedless and Crimson Seedless sprayed by chlormequat (CCC), benzyladenine (BA), ethephon (CEPA) and putrescine (Put). The effects of different application concentration and date of CCC were further evaluated in Centennial Seedless in later experiment. The results showed that exogenous application of all PGRs did not affect the total number of ovules per berries in maturity. CCC increased the ovules weight and proportion of ovules >4 mm in length of three varieties in maturity. The effects of two application times of PGRs on weight of berries and ovules and proportion of each category ovules in maturity were not significantly different. In the proceeding of embryo rescue, CCC at 100 and 1000 mg l−1, BA at 100 mg l−1 and Put at 20 mg l−1 increased the percentage of developed embryos of Centennial Seedless and Thompson Seedless. The results showed that the size of ovules excised for embryo rescue significantly affected embryo formation and plant regeneration. The percentage of embryos formation in ovules >4 mm in length was significantly more than in ovules 2–4 mm in length, no embryo was found in ovules 2 mm in length by 80.0–82.7% in Centennial Seedless, therefore improving embryo formation. The statistical correlation was found between the proportion of ovules >2 mm and embryo formation (r = 0.92) in Centennial Seedless. Among the different spraying time in Centennial Seedless, CCC applied 14 days before bloom produced significantly more ovules >2 mm in length and embryos formation.

The ‘Mopanshi’ persimmon is a seedless, astringent parthenocarpic cultivar that does not produce male flowers. After pollination using four non-astringent cultivars (‘Zenjimaru’, ‘Nishimurawase’, ‘Okugosho’ and ‘Hanagosho’), seeds were produced to different degrees. ‘Mopanshi’ fruits pollinated with ‘Zenjimaru’ produced far more seeds than those pollinated with the other three cultivars. The ratio of abnormal seeds obtained from the fruits pollinated with ‘Hanagosho’ was higher than that obtained from the fruits pollinated with the other three cultivars. Most embryos degenerated in the early to late stages of seed development. Immature embryos were cultured in a modified MS medium (half of NO 3 in MS medium + 0.4 μM BA + 0.1 μM IBA) with the greatest success (52–80%) from embryos taken from fruits 60–80 days after pollination. Seedlings failed to initiate radicles so they were transferred to dark culture conditions for 8 days or to a rooting media that contained 3% sucrose and 1% Chinese ink. The seedlings on the medium darkened with ink rooted at greater than 90.83% compared to 75.83% for dark cultured seedlings. This study demonstrated that ‘Mopanshi’ persimmon could be used as a female parent in crosses, but embryos needed to be moved to tissue culture conditions to continue to develop and form plantlets.

Based on the theory that cytokinins are known to increase the sink strength of seeds for assimilates, the present investigation was carried out to study the influence of pre-bloom and bloom time sprays of benzyladenine (BA) on embryo recovery, germination and plant development in Flame Seedless grape variety by using in ovulo rescue methods. The combined effect of pollen parent type and sprays of BA drastically improved these parameters and the embryo recovery was more than doubled in all the crosses, except in cross FS × Concord. Also, germination of embryos was higher when BA sprays were given. Recovery of embryos and growth depended on BA treatment and the pollen parent types.

New and old accessions of Lycopersicon chilense (LA 1932, LA 1938 and LA 1963), L. peruvianum (PI-143679 and PI-126944), and L. hirsutum (UPV-16910) recently reported as resistant to TSWV, TYLCV and PepMV, viral agents responsible for the most severe economic losses in tomato crop in Spain, were selected as male parents for crosses with L. esculentum in order to widen the genetic basis of virus resistance in tomato. After the analysis of the nature and severity of the barriers found in each case, crossability barriers between wild and cultivated species were circumvented by using several techniques. Crosses with pollen mixture (1:1, wild:cultivated) were successful in obtaining interspecific hybrids with the two L. chilense accessions (LA 1932 and LA 1963) that exhibited more relaxed post-cigotic barriers. Embryo rescue was also successful in crosses with these accessions and also in crosses with L. peruvianum accessions in which embryos beyond the globular stage were found (PI-143679). However, a combination of two or more strategies was necessary in crosses with those accessions exhibiting more severe crossability barriers. Mixture pollen crosses (10:1, wild:cultivated), combined with embryo rescue, allowed for the recovery of hybrids with LA 1938. Stigma and pistil complementation with H 3 BO 3 and GA 3 , followed by immature seed culture was found to be an effective method for the production of novel interspecific hybrids with PI-126944, the accession with the highest level of resistance to TSWV and TYLCV. By using the best combination of techniques we also backcrossed these interspecific hybrids to tomato to generate the BC1 progeny. The new genes introgressed will be useful to obtain new tomato varieties resistant to TSWV, TYLCV and PepMV.

Cashewnut embryos as small as 1–2 mm were successfully cultured to obtain complete plantlets. The best results for both radicle emergence (99.7%) and seedling development (95.5%) were obtained in embryos 11–14 mm in size, cultured in MS basal media with BA (2 mg/l) and GA3 (2 mg/l). Plants obtained were successfully transferred to the field with a 90% survival rate. The system may serve as an alternative efficient propagation methodology in cashewnut.

Garden asparagus, Asparagus officinalis L. (2 n = 2 x = 20) is reproductively isolated from the related ornamental species Asparagus densiflorus (Kunth) Jessop cv. Sprengeri (2 n = 6 x = 60) by incompatibility barriers at the pollen–stigma and pollen–style levels, plus stronger post-stylar barriers, which have not been described, in pollen–pistil-compatible genotypes. To study the latter, intra- and inter-specific crosses were made using 25 plants of A. officinalis and 29 plants of A. densiflorus . Pollinated pistils were fixed at different intervals from 1 h to 15 days after pollination and, after processing, serial sections were microscopically examined. Events in the embryo sacs of intra-specific crosses were used as controls. In inter-specific crosses, fertilization took place 8–16 h after pollination but the endosperm failed to develop normally 3 and 5 days after pollination, respectively, in A. densiflorus × A. officinalis and A. officinalis × A. densiflorus crosses, leading to subsequent embryo abortion. Therefore, immature embryo rescue in vitro or ploidy level manipulations are proposed as approaches to circumvent this barrier in order to produce inter-specific hybrids.

Various techniques have been developed which could help breeders to meet the demand of the cut flower industry in the next century. Available methods for the transfer of genes could significantly shorten the breeding procedures and overcome some of the agronomic and environmental problems which would otherwise not be possible through conventional methods. On the other hand, nutritional requirements (mineral nutrients), carbohydrates and other organic compounds (vitamins, amino acids, etc), environmental factors (e.g. light, gaseous environment, temperature and humidity) and treatments with growth regulators have helped in achieving high proliferation rates to allow commercially viable micropropagation. An overview of the regeneration of chrysanthemum by direct and indirect organogenesis, embryogenesis from explants and embryo rescue is presented in this article. In addition, the use of these techniques in association with several biotechnological methods to enrich the genome of chrysanthemum, such as selection of somaclonal variants, screening for various usetul characteristics and genetic transformation, is reviewed.

The cross Actinidia chinensis Planch. var. chinensis (2x) × A. melanandra Franch. var. melanandra(4x) was made in 1989. Embryos were rescued early in seed development and raised in sterile culture. Plant material from these embryos was treated with colchicine to double the chromosome number and then put through a second shoot regeneration cycle. About 500 plants have been produced representing 25 clones from individual embryos. A sample of these plants has been analysed for chromosome number and for eight morphological characters. Plants with chromosome numbers representing 2x, 3x, 4x and 6x have been found and these numbers are correlated with some morphological characters. The origin of the different ploidy groups is discussed.

Interspecific hybridization in the genus Alstroemeria is hindered by post-fertilization barriers. Histological analysis revealed poor endosperm development from 18 days after pollination onwards, followed by malformation and abortion of embryos. To create interspecific hybrids between Alstroemeria aurea, Alstroemeria pelegrina, Alstroemeria magnifica, Alstroemeria inodora and Alstroemeria psittacina in diallelic combinations, an ovule culture technique was developed. Influence of age of ovules, sucrose concentration of medium and temperature and light during culture were tested. Harvesting ovules before the onset of endosperm degeneration, i.e. at 14 days after pollination, cutting them into halves and culturing the micropylar halves in a rotating liquid culture medium containing 6% sucrose at 21 °C in the dark, led to successful embryo rescue. Germinated embryos were subcultured in vitro until rhizomes were formed, a prerequisite for successful transfer to the greenhouse. Full grown plants all showed interspecific morphological traits and analysis of chromosome complement confirmed their hybrid nature. Diploid hybrid plants were obtained in all the 20 interspecific 2 x -2 x combinations. A total of 260 interspecific hybrid plants was produced. Half-ovule culture of 2 x -4 x and 4 x -2 x crosses resulted in 43 triploid hybrid plants. Because interspecific hybrids were obtained in 100% of the interspecific combinations, it is expected that the described technique can be applied to overcome post-fertilization barriers in most crosses within the genus Aktroemeria .

Hybrid embryos of Actinidia species were successfully transferred to in vitro culture at an early stage of their development and grown to maturity. Two paths of development were observed. Plantlets could be produced directly, or indirectly via a callus phase. Nutrient and hormonal requirements were dependent on the stage of development of the embryo. When globular embryos were cultured, the endosperm was required as nurse tissue. The size of the embryos and their genetic background were major factors determining the success of the procedure.

[EN] Introgression breeding can contribute to broadening the genetic background of eggplant (Solanum melongena). We used six eggplant varieties and 44 interspecific hybrids between these eggplant accessions and 10 accessions of wild relatives from the primary genepool species S. insanum and secondary genepool species S. anguivi, S. dasyphyllum, S. incanum, S. lichtensteinii, and S. tomentosum to obtain first backcross generations to S. melongena. Pollen viability in cultivated and wild parents and interspecific hybrids with S. insanum was high, while for interspecific hybrids with secondary genepool species it was variable. First backcross generations to S. melongena were obtained with interspecific hybrids of all the wild species, with the best results being obtained in crosses with hybrids between S. melongena and S. insanum. However, ample differences were observed among eggplant varieties in the success of the crosses. Additionally, the six eggplant varieties were crossed with secondary genepool species S. campylacanthum, S. lidii and S. vespertilio and with tertiary genepool species S. bonariense, S. elaeagnifolium and S. sisymbriifolium with the aim of obtaining new interspecific hybrids. Successful interspecific hybridization was achieved with the three new secondary genepool species tested and, using embryo rescue, with the tertiary genepool species S. elaeagnifolium. The new backcross generations and interspecific hybrids obtained will contribute to broadening the genetic background of the eggplant and to the genetic enhancement of this crop., This work was undertaken as part of the initiative "Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives", which is supported by the Government of Norway. The project is managed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust with the Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Mew and implemented in partnership with national and international gene banks and plant breeding institutes around the world. For further information see the project website: http://www.cwrdiversity.org/. This work has also been funded in part by European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 677379 (G2P-SOL project: Linking genetic resources, genomes and phenotypes of Solanaceous crops) and from Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (grant AGL2015-64755-R from MINECO/FEDER, EU). Pietro Gramazio is grateful to Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for a pre-doctoral (Programa FPI de la UPV-Subprograma 1/2013 call) contract.