Production of somatic hybrid tissues following chemical and electrical fusion of protoplasts from albino cell suspensions ofMedicago sativa andM. borealis.

Protoplasts isolated from cell suspensions of albinoMedicago borealis andM. sativa were fused chemically, using two methods, and electrically. Although a small scale method of chemical fusion gave the highest fusion frequency, electrofusion was the superior technique on the basis of throughput of green somatic hybrid cell colonies. Chlorophyll-containing tissues were confirmed as being somatic hybrid by isoenzyme and cytological analyses. This is the first report of the application of albino complementation to produce somatic hybrid cells in forage legumes.