SHOOT REGENERATION FROM ANTHER CULTURE OF SUNFLOWER (HELIANTHUS-ANNUUS) AND SOME INTERSPECIFIC HYBRIDS AS AFFECTED BY GENOTYPE AND CULTURE PROCEDURE

Anther culture has been demonstrated to be an applicable technique for the development of doubled haploid, i.e. homozygous lines of many crop species. In some species, androgenetic doubled haploids have already been shown to be a useful tool for breeding. However, anther culture results in sunflower have been rather unsatisfactory up to now. As in other species, anther culture response of sunflower (Helianthus sp.) is strongly affected by physical, nutritional, physiological and genetical factors. By testing a number of different culture parameters, i.e. donor plant stages, culture media and conditions, and appropriate schedule could be worked out for the successful regeneration of shoots - at least for a number of sunflower lines and interspecific hybrids.