Regeneration of fertile doubled haploid plants from colhicine-supplemented medium in maize (Zea mays L.) anther culture

Genome doubling is critical for obtaining fertile doubled haploid plants from maize anther culture. The most common chromosome doubling method applies colchicine to the plants. However, the conventional treatment has several disadvantages. In this experiment, anther cultures of one maize FI hybrid were treated with 0.02% and 0.03% colchicine for three days at the beginning of microspore induction. Colchicine added to the induction medium had no negative effect on the androgenic response of the genotype examined. The spontaneous doubling rate of the hybrid was very low, underlying the need for an efficient genome doubling system. Significantly higher fertility was observed in plants originating from the colchicine-supplemented induction medium. In conclusion, the results obtained clearly demonstrate that the application of colchicine prior to the first microspore mitosis was superior to the conventionally used chromosome doubling techniques.