A Review on Somatic Hybridization and Its Utilization in Crop Improvement

Abstract

Plant breeding throughout the 21^th century has been successful because of the incorporation of resistance from exotic germplasm into modern cultivars. Somatic hybridization broadens the base of accessible germplasm and offers additional opportunities for introgression of desirable traits into cultivars. Even though measurable success of somatic hybridization in terms of cultivar release may still be limited, the potential for their use in plant breeding remains great. In general, somatic hybridization provides excellent opportunities for research on plant improvement, first by exploring genetic variations among the existing crops and then by attempting to transfer the available genetic information from one species to another through fusion of protoplasts isolated from somatic tissues of these crops.

Keywords: Somatic hybridization, Protoplast fusion, Protoplast