SOMATIC HYBRIDIZATION OF AN ATRAZINE RESISTANT BIOTYPE OF SOLANUM-NIGRUM WITH SOLANUM-TUBEROSUM .1. CLONAL VARIATION IN MORPHOLOGY AND IN ATRAZINE SENSITIVITY

Plants were regenerated from protoplast fusion experiments with haploid S. tuberosum L. and an atrazine resistant biotype of the normally susceptible S. nigrum L. Sixty clones which were unlike the parents were selected by types of hairs and leaf pigmentation of young shoots, and characterized by chromosome numbers, response to atrazine, branching, hairs of the calyx, shapes and pigmentation of leaves, and morphology of flowers. Twenty-five clones showed vegetatively stable differences from the parental clones; enough combinations of mixed characters suggested the clear origin from fusants of at least 9 clones. Observed diversities within and between protoplast-derived clones are interpreted as expressions of variation during the development of the regenerants.