CHARACTERIZATION OF SOMACLONAL CHROMOSOME VARIABILITY IN VEGETATIVE PROGENY OF AGROPYRON CV SOMACLONES

The changes in chromosome number taking place in the vegetative progen y of Agropyron cv. somaclones was characterised by means of homogeneit y analyses and by identifying the types of meiotic chromosome configur ations. Negative changes in the number of chromosomes were found to ta ke place in the vegetative progeny of three somaclones at cell level ( SC1, SC2, SC3) and of one somaclone at plant level, too (SC2). The ana lysis of the frequency of meiotic chromosome configurations demonstrat ed an increase in the number of evennumbered multivalents (hexavalents , octavalents). The selection of an extremely aneuploid clone led to t he isolation of a vegetative progeny clone with a chromosome number of 2n=38.