SALT STRESS-TOLERANT MAIZE PRODUCTION BY ANTHER CULTURE

An anther culture was initiated from the crossing of the Arizona 8601 hybrid of maize, highly tolerant to salt stress, and the M11M14 hybrid , a genotype with positive androgenetic response. The basic medium use d was Yu-Pei modified with 60 g/l of sucrose. Two anther-derived plant s were obtained: one with chlorophyll-deficient leaves, and the other a normal green plant. The latter showed a total of 20 chromosomes, as a consequence of spontaneous diploidyzation resulting in the productio n of a pure line called LW1. This line was multiplied and tested in a greenhouse for salinity tolerance, and a behaviour similar to that of the tolerant hybrid Arizona 8601 was observed when submitted to differ ent levels of NaCl (0.0, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.2%).