Abstract
From 908 unpollinated ovules in tetraploid Chinese chive (Allium tuberosum ROTTL.), 132 tetraploids and two dihaploids were obtained through three successive cultures; budpreculture, ovule culture and embryo culture. The high frequency of tetraploids in the ob-tained plants suggests an unreduced ernbryo sac formation at a considerable frequency. The occasional dihaploid induction, however, indicates that some ovules have the eusporous embryo sac. One of the two dihaploids was an aneuploiclal dlhaploid with 2n=17 and the other was a dlhaploid with 2n=16 having exactly half the tetraploid number of chromosomes. The three-step culture method established in the present study can contribute towards the understanding of the embryological and genetical mechanlsms of the apomixis in Chinese chive.
