GENETIC-CONTROL OF GREEN PLANT-REGENERATION FROM ANTHER CULTURE OF WHEAT

The low percentage of green plants from anther cultures has limited the applications of haploid techniques in cereal breeding programs. The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic control of green plant percentage in wheat anther culture. Reciprocal crosses were made between a spring wheat 'Chris', which produces a high percentage of green plants, and an experimental line WA7176, which produces a low percentage of green plants. The reciprocal crosses were backcrossed with the respective male parents. A second group of reciprocal crosses and backcrosses was made between 'Yecora Rojo' (high green plant producing parent) and 'Edwall' (low green plant producing parent). Anthers from the parents, reciprocal cross, and backcross progeny were cultured to estimate the relative importance of nuclear genes in the control of green plant production. The percentages of green plants derived from the reciprocal crosses were intermediate between the parents and no significant reciprocal differences were detected. Backcrosses of the reciprocal crosses shifted the percentage of green plants towards the male parents. These results indicate that the percentages of green plants from anther culture of the tested genotypes are under the control of nuclear genes and that the genes are predominantly additive. Significant differences (p less-than-or-equal-to 0.05) for green plant percentage as well as for callus induction and plant regeneration were also detected within the parental genotypes. The within-genotype variation for green plant percentage accounted for 24.5 and 34.1% of total variation for the two groups of crosses, indicating the potential for in vitro prescreening to identify specific parental plants to improve anther culture responses.