INHERITANCE OF ANTHER CULTURE-DERIVED GREEN PLANTLET REGENERATION IN WHEAT (TRITICUM-AESTIVUM L)

A study was set up to determine the inheritance and combining ability of the factors anther culture response and green plant regeneration. R eciprocal crosses were made between cultivar 'Ringo Sztar', showing hi gh anther culture response and the cultivars 'Ciano 067' and 'Benoist H77022', showing a high level of green plant regeneration. Averaged ov er all genotypes, 23.0% of the anthers responded and a callus inductio n frequency of 77.8% was observed. Of all the embryos, 43.0% developed into plantlets, 25.6% of the regenerants being green, the result bein g that 3.3 green plants per 100 anthers were formed. Genotypic effects accounted for 57.7%, 86.3% and 77.5% of the total variance of anther culture response, callus induction frequency and embryo induction freq uency, respectively. Additive and dominant gene action was detected fo r all characteristics, including green plant regeneration. No reciproc al differences were found for anther culture response, embryo inductio n frequency and green plant regeneration, indicating no cytoplasmic ef fects. A small but significant reciprocal difference was found for cal lus induction frequency. Embryo production was primarily correlated wi th anther culture response and not with the number of embryos produced per plated anther or per responding anther. Possible mechanisms for t he inheritance of green plant regeneration are discussed.