Comparison of Anther Culture and the Hordeum bulbosum Method for the Production of Doubled Haploids in Winter Barley

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Abstract
The comparison, between the efficiency of anther culture and the Hordeum bulbosum method in barley was extended to the chromosome number distributions of all planes derived from the two techniques and the proportions of fertile doubled haploid plants which survived until maturity.The frequencies of haploid and spontaneously doubled haploid plants which were useful for practical breeding purposes were found to be around 90 % for both techniques. The remainder consisted of polyploid, mixoploid and aneuploid variants in the case of microspore‐derived plants and diploid interspecific hybrids in the progeny of the H. bulbosum method. The ploidy level distributions of the microspore‐ and H. bulbosum‐derived plants appeared to be independent of the genotype of the donor.There were no significant differences between techniques regarding the proportions, of plants which survived a severe winter and the production of fertile doubled haploid plants. Both techniques can therefore complement each other in a breeding programme and their relative merits are discussed.Possible ways of improving doubled haploid production in barley are suggested for increasing its use in breeding schemes.