Studies on the chromosome doubling of wheat pollen plants

Abstract

Studies on chromosome doubling of wheat pollen plants have been conducted, and a simple and efficient procedure for increasing the chromosome doubling frequency of wheat pollen plants was developed. Culture of the pollen calli on a colchicine-containing medium before transferring them to the regeneration medium increased the chromosome doubling frequency of the plants derived from these calli. The suitable concentration of the colchicine in the medium was around 250 mg/l, and the optimum duration for the calli to stay on the colchicine-containing medium was 1 day. Under these conditions, the chromosome doubling frequency of the pollen plants was greatly increased, but the ability of the calli to differentiate green shoots was generally not affected. The ability of the calli to differentiate green shoots was lowered mainly by a long duration of colchicine treatment. When the pollen calli were transferred to the regeneration medium in two or three batches, the pollen plants derived from the second batch of calli showed significantly higher spontaneous chromosome doubling frequency than the plants derived from the first batch of calli.