Evaluation of teosinte lines as pollen parents for wheat haploid production

Abstract

Nine teosinte lines were evaluated as pollen sources for haploid wheat production together with elite maize lines. Evaluation was performed based on the percentages of seed set, embryos / seed and germination. Pollinated wheat spikes were grown under two environments; as detached spike culture (SC) or on the plants (OP). The overall efficiency of OP was 5.5% higher than that of SC. However, such difference may be compensated by the elimination of labor for 2,4-D treatment in SC. No differences in seed set between the teosinte and maize lines were detected, with a mean of 80.8%, but percentage of embryos / seed varied significantly, ranging from 13.0% to 55.5%. There was also a significant difference in germination rate, ranging from 33.6% to 89.6%. Four teosinte lines showed a significantly higher efficiency of haploid production (haploid plants / 100 florets pollinated) than the best maize line, 3 of these showed an efficiency as high as 30%. It is considered that the use of the elite teosinte lines may be advantageous for producing wheat haploids, although most of the teosinte lines had late flowering, as compared with the maize lines.