HAPLOID PLANTLETS DERIVED BY ANTHER CULTURE OF CUCURBITA-PEPO

This work was conducted to study the effect of sucrose and 2,4-D combi nations on induction of haploid plants of a summer squash cultivar thr ough anther culture; therefore, sucrose was used at 30, 60, 90, 120 an d 150 g l(-1) and 2, 4-D was used at 0.1, 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 mg l(-1) on solid MS anther culture medium. Anthers at the mid or late uninucleat e microspore stage without filament were excised from sterilized buds and plated on 20 different induction media. The most plantlets resulte d from the induction medium supplemented with 150 g l(-1) sucrose and 5 mg l(-1) 2,4-D. Root tips from 20 plantlets were cytologically exami ned under a light microscope. The results revealed ten diploid (2n = 2 x = 40) and ten haploid (2n = x = 20) plants.