Cold pretreatment to enhance green plant regeneration from rye anther culture

Cold pretreatment of detached tillers of rye, Secale cereale, was tested un der two light regimes. The ryes included two spring and two winter cultivar s. Significant increases in green plant regeneration were recorded in each experiment when cold pretreatments of two to four weeks were applied. Dim l ight during the stress period improved green plant regeneration for two of the four cultivars tested. The highest regeneration rate, 30.6 green plants per 100 plated anthers, was reached following three weeks at +4 degrees C under dim light, for spring rye Jo02. Starvation stress applied to plated a nthers in mannitol medium suppressed anther response.