Research Information System
Israel Journal of Plant Sciences, vol.51, no.3, pp.207-212, 2003 (SCI-Expanded)
Anther culture is today one of the most effective methods for the creation of doubled haploids in crop plants. Little is known about size and age of wheat anther culture-derived embryos and their relation to regeneration. It is possible that the low level of regeneration and high proportion of albinos may be related to embryo age and size. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the age and the size of wheat anther culture-derived embryos on regeneration of green and albino plants. Anther culture-derived embryos from spring wheat cultivar "Pavon 76" was used. An age experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block with 4 replications of six treatments (45, 60, 120, 150, 180, and 210 days). In size experiment, 4 different embryo sizes (1, 2, 3, and 4 mm) were examined using a completely randomized design with 4 replications. Our results showed that 3-mm embryos and 45-day-old embryos produced the highest percentage of regenerated green plantlets. In addition, 1-mm embryos and from 60- to 210-day-old embryos resulted in the lowest percentage of green plantlet regeneration. The older the embryo, the lower the percentage of regenerating green plantlets. However, 1-mm embryo size and 60-day-old embryos produced the highest percentage of regenerated albino plantlets. In addition, 4-mm embryo size and 210-day-old embryos resulted in the lowest percentage of albino plantlet regeneration.