ANTHER CULTURE RESPONSE OF SOME SPRING BREAD WHEAT (TRITICUM-AESTIVUM L) CULTIVARS, LINES AND F(1) CROSSES

To determine the anther culture response of spring bread wheat, 44 cultivars and lines, and 14 F1s were cultured. Genotypes showed significant differences especially in callus induction and green plant proportion compared to plant regeneration. The results from F1s suggested that additive genetic effects predominated for callus induction. In addition, epistasis and heterosis were also observed in some crosses. Some cultivars had dominant or masking genes suppressing callus induction, which were functional in F1 crosses as well; however, probably because of minor genes or gene interactions their functions were some altered positively in their crosses. On the other hand, additive, epistasis and heterosis genetic effects were observed for plant regeneration and green plant proportion as well. In contrast to callus induction, the genotypes with low green plant proportion did not drastically reduce green plant proportion in their crosses. Insignificant correlation coefficients calculated between anther culture components (callus induction, plant regeneration, and green plant proportion) indicated that these are under the control of different genetic mechanisms.