Relationship between tissue culture and agronomic traits of spring wheat

Abstract

Plant regeneration was achieved from mature and immature embryos of ten spring wheat cultivars (cv.s), which showed strong genotype effect on both callus growth rate and the frequency of plant regeneration. Relationship between tissue culture and agronomic traits was surveyed by correlation and regression analysis, revealing credible relationship between the two traits, especially in mature embryo cultures. It was found that the frequency of regeneration from callus derived from mature embryos could be estimated from kernel number per spikelet, effective tillering and longevity; which was less significant in immature embryo culture. Such relationships may be due to the fact that both traits are influenced by the endogenous hormone levels. This result suggests that it is possible to screen genotypes with good tissue culture traits directly at the agronomic trait level, a practice rather simple and straightforward.