ANALYSIS OF THE GENOTYPIC EFFECT ON DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL PATHWAYS IN WHEAT GAMETOPHYTE CULTURES

Seven wheat cultivars and one wild subspecies Triticum aestivum ssp. s pelta were compared for their in vitro fertility and androgenetic capa city by their anther culture response and in vitro seed production. Bo th haploid embryogenesis and in vitro seed set showed very wide genoty pe dependent variability in accordance with previous observations. At the same time, an analysis of the data showed a significant negative c orrelation between the in vitro androgenetic ability and, the in vitro fertilization potential, which was especially obvious in the case of highly embryogenic genotypes. The reason for this inverse correlation might be the different genetic regulation of the two quantitative trai ts. Presumably, alleles which increase the stability of the gametogene tic developmental programme hinder the initiation of haploid embryogen esis, while alleles with the opposite effect promote the sporophytic t ype of growth.