Desiccated doubled-haploid embryos obtained from microspore culture of barley cv. Igri

Barley microspore-derived doubled-haploid embryos have been produced in vit ro. The development of embryo desiccation technology will allow longterm st orage, germplasm preservation and low delivery cost. Treatment of the micro spore-derived embryos was essential to induce desiccation tolerance and to arrest further development and plant regeneration. At the concentrations us ed, a treatment with trehalose was more efficient than with sucrose, and ma nnitol was harmful to the embryos. Up to 80% of the desiccated embryos prod uced complete green plants when transferred to regeneration medium, by the application of a 0.6 m trehalose or a 10(-5) m abscisic acid treatment to t he embryos in the culture induction medium. The morphology of these plants was similar to plants produced directly from non-desiccated embryos.