Protocol for producing doubled haploid plants from anther culture of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

The use of anther culture to produce homozygous doubled haploid lines for wheat cultivar development has been widely advocated, and during the last few years has become an increasingly important technique in many breeding programs (Henry and De Buyser 1990). The anther culture procedure, however, can only become an efficient, economical part of breeding practice if it ensures the production of a sufficient number of cytologically stable doubled haploid plants from a wide range of genotypes. Since haploid induction ability has strong genotype dependence, wheat anther culture has been used more efficiently (Holme et al., 1999) in certain geographical regions (China, Central and East Europe) than in others (North and West Europe). In the following protocol an efficient, reproducible anther culture methodology is presented for producing homozygous doubled haploid plants of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).