Anther Culture Response of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Varieties from Eastern Europe

I. BELCHEV, K. KOSTOV, R. SCHLEGEL, P. IVANOV, N. TSENOV and N. STAVREVA

Institute for Wheat and Sunflower "Dobroudja", BG-9520 General Toshevo, Bulgaria

Abstract

BELCHEV, I., K. KOSTOV, R. SCHLEGEL, P. IVANOV, N. TSENOV and N. STAVREVA, 2000. Anther culture response of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties from Eastern Europe. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 6: 499-506

Fifty Bulgarian, 11 Romanian, 10 Russian and 10 Ukrainian winter wheat varieties were studied for their anther culture response. Callus induction (CI) varied widely: from zero in the varieties Ludogorka, No 301 and Transilvania to 332.4% in variety Svilena. Plant regeneration (PR) ranged from zero in 12 varieties to 75.0% in variety Valshebnitsa. The mean value of green plant proportion (GPP) for all varieties was 66.6% which seems to be a suitable frequency for wheat breeding. Green plant yield (GPY) varied from zero to 8.0% for the majority of the varieties.
All possible combinations of anther culture traits were registered in the varieties. In most cases the high CI was connected with high GPY.
Variety Svilena showed an extraordinary high GPY of 116.7%. Varieties carrying the 1BL/1RS chromosome translocation, such as Svilena, Avrora and Turda 81, had high GPP and GPY, while others, such as Kardam and Requiem, produced quite a low number of green plants. Based on GPP and GPY, variety Avrora can be characterized as a chlorogenic genotype with 94.9% GPP and 20.7 %GPY, whereas variety Charodeyka is albinogenic with 18.6% GPP and 1.8 % GPY.
Some varieties with GPY of 3-4 % and over are recommended for breeding purposes.

Key words: winter wheat, anther culture, callus induction, plant regeneration, green plant proportion, green plant yield, 1BL/1RS chromosome translocation
Abbreviations: CI – callus induction, PR – plant regeneration, GPP – green plant proportion, GPY – green plant yield