RESPONSIVENESS TO ANTHER CULTURE IN CULTIVARS AND F1 CROSSES OF SPRING WHEAT

Anther culturability of 43 cultivars and 6 F1 crosses representing dif ferent quality classes of spring wheat was studied using a glucose-con taining, modified N6 medium (HNG). Generally high pollen embryoid form ation (up to 111 embryoids per 100 anthers) was associated with lower green plant regeneration (up to 9.1 green plantlets per 100 embryoids) frequencies and a high proportion (63% on average) of albino plants. Anther response was found to be strongly affected by the genotype of t he donor plants. Seven of the screened cultivars yielded more than one green regenerated plant per 100 anthers. The most responsive cultivar s were Veery #2 (6.2), ST 6 (4.0), and Leader (3.6). No ability to reg enerate green plantlets was shown by 10 of the genotypes. Anther respo nsiveness of F1 progenies as compared with the parental cultivars were different in each cross. Differences found between reciprocal crosses suggest that the cytoplasm of a donor plant may affect anther respons e. Haploid plants constituted 45% of the anther derived regenerants, w hile the remaining part was divided into 29% of spontaneous diploids a nd 26% of plants with abnormal chromosome numbers.