The effects of the medum composition and embryo age of various cultivars on plant recovery for successful rescue of hybrid embryos from Capsicum annuum and C. frutescens were studied. Medium M2, a modification of Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium, supplemented with casein hydrolysate (CH) and yeast extract (YE) 500 mgl-1 each, coconut water (CW) 150 mll-1, gibberellic acid (GA 3) 0.5 mgl-1 and naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) 0.05 mgl-1, was found to be the most suitable medium for plant recovery.

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... supply of CH combined with sucrose exerted a beneficial effect on plant recovery and CW enhanced the effect. Hybrid plants were produced only from embryos at 28 to 33 days after pollination. Plant recovery rate from hybrid embryos was low and less than the embryo germination rate presumably due to the existence of some post-zygotic incompatible barriers. Hybridity of the recovered plants was confirmed using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers and based on their morphological characteristics derived from the pollen parent. Pollen fertility was very low in the hybrid plants compared with that in their parents. The simple method of embryo rescue proposed in this study could be used for the production of interspecific hybrids in Capsicum spp.