Abstract:
Pollen plants from anther culture in rice breeding allows selection of fine strains in early gen
erations. Exploitation of anther culture technique in research is limited due to very low regen
eration frequency of indica cultivars and the transfer of anther culture traits from japonica to
indica varieties is important in improving these rice varieties. In this study the optimization of
media requirements and culture conditions for high frequency callus induction and plant re
generation of several indica × japonica F1 hybrids were evaluated using improved anther cul
ture media. Five indica rice varieties ( BG 90-2, BG 379-2, BG 94-1, Dahanala and Suduru
samba) and two japonica varieties (Hu Lo Tao and Chuan 4) were selected and F1 hybrids
were taken with all possible crosses between them. Panicles were cold pre treated at 5oC for 7
days and anthers were cultured in agar solidified modified N6, B5 and Millers media. Calli
were transferred to MS medium for plant regeneration. Best callus induction frequencies (0.8 –
29.4%) were obtained in N6 medium containing 5% (w/v) sucrose, than B5 (0.5 – 19.2%) and
Millers (0.2 – 19.8%) media. The F1 hybrids were more responsive to anther culture than their
parents. Highest callus induction frequency of 29.4% could observe in N6 medium for F1 hy
brid Hu Lo Tao × BG 90-2. The green plant regeneration frequency of calli induced on N6 me
dium was higher than the other two media and the highest frequency of 41.0% was occurred in
F1 hybrids of Hu Lo Tao × BG 90-2. Green plants were transferred to pots with 50 – 75% sur
vival rate. Out of 99 plants survived, 28 plants had more than 5% spikelet fertility. Modified
N6 medium had positive effect on anther culture performance and the F1 hybrid Hu Low Tao
× Bg 90-2 had the best performance.
