Improvement of Anther Culture Methods for Haploid Production in Wheat

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Abstract
The yield of haploid production in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) anther culture has been extremely low with the currently employed methods. The objective of this study was to determine whether variation in anther culture media would affect the yield of haploids. After a 48‐h cold pretreatment, anthers from six spring wheat cultivars and one winter wheat cultivar were cultured on liquid and agar‐solidified media, and in some cases the liquid medium was supplemented with Ficoll (Sigma Chemical Co., St Louis, MO). Liquid culture significantly increased callus induction, which averaged 98.3 calli per 100 anthers for the seven cultivars tested, compared with 5.1 calli per 100 anthers for agar culture. Although the calli from liquid media usually had lower plantlet regeneration than calli from agar‐solidified media, regeneration ability was improved by adding 200 g/L Ficoll 400 to the liquid induction medium, or by changing the plant growth regulator composition of the regeneration medium. By employing the liquid culture method and the modified regeneration medium, it is now more feasible to use doubled haploids in plant breeding practice and genetic research.