Preliminary studies on the synthetic seed and encapsulation technologies of olive vitro-derived esxplants.

Two to four mm long somatic embryos of cv. Canino and 3-4 mm long uninodal microcuttings collected from micropropagated shoots of cv. Moraiolo were encapsulated in sodium alginate. The synthetic seeds (encapsulated somatic embryos) and the capsules (encapsulated microcuttings) were sown in agar media to verify their regrowth ability. The results showed that about 60% of the somatic embryos produced shoots, while 56% converted into plantlets. Regrowth of encapsulated microcuttings was higher than 90 %, although a different behaviour between apicals and axillary explants was evident.