Genetic analysis of androgenetic traits in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters and to investigate the type of gene action in controlling androgenesis in wheat. Two wheat cultivars of Grebe and Houtman were reciprocally crossed with two synthetic genotypes of Do1 and Pol and then a complete set of the parents, F1, reciprocal F1 (RF1), F2 and back-cross generations (BC1 and BC2) of each cross were used for anther culture. The ratio of responding anthers, the ratio of albino and green regenerants, and the number of embryoids per each responding anther were determined for different generations of each cross. The results showed a wide genetic variation for embryoid induction and plant regeneration among the parental lines and their progenies. The genetic model of additive-dominance effects could explain the variation among the generation means for the traits, indicating that their inheritance was relatively simple. The genetic analysis also showed predominance of additive genetic effects in genetic control of embryoid induction and green plant regeneration, implying possible improvement of these traits by selection in plant breeding programs. Maternal effects were also found for embryoid induction. The narrow-sense heritability for responding anthers, green plants, albino plants, green plants to total regenerants, and embryoids per responding anther in different crosses varied from 41% to 77%, 64% to 92%, 67% to 84%, 40% to 67% and 33% to 65%, respectively. In conclusion, it seems that the improvement of green plant regeneration in anther culture technique can be achieved by appropriate breeding and selection programs