RESPONSIVENESS TO ANTHER CULTURE IN CULTIVARS AND F1 CROSSES OF SPRING WHEAT

Anther culturability of 43 cultivars and 6 F1 crosses representing different quality classes of spring wheat was studied using a glucose-containing, modified N6 medium (HNG). Generally high pollen embryoid formation (up to 111 embryoids per 100 anthers) was associated with lower green plant regeneration (up to 9.1 green plantlets per 100 embryoids) frequencies and a high proportion (63% on average) of albino plants. Anther response was found to be strongly affected by the genotype of the donor plants. Seven of the screened cultivars yielded more than one green regenerated plant per 100 anthers. The most responsive cultivars were Veery #2 (6.2), ST 6 (4.0), and Leader (3.6). No ability to regenerate green plantlets was shown by 10 of the genotypes. Anther responsiveness of F1 progenies as compared with the parental cultivars were different in each cross. Differences found between reciprocal crosses suggest that the cytoplasm of a donor plant may affect anther response. Haploid plants constituted 45% of the anther derived regenerants, while the remaining part was divided into 29% of spontaneous diploids and 26% of plants with abnormal chromosome numbers.