Anther culture response and salt tolerance in some wheat genotypes

Anther culture response of five bread wheat genotypes (four F1 crosses and its parental genotype) was evaluated on four different media for their ability to initiate callus and green plantlets. Results indicated that considerable genetic variation among tested genotypes was observed. The percentage of anthers that developed calli ranged from 4.67% for the cross (Line-A × Gemmeiza-7) to 9.42% for the cross (Line-A × Misr-1) among the genotypes across the four media compared to the parental Line-A, which gave 7.67%. The cross (Line-A × Misr-2) produced the highest mean value for green plantlets (5.50%), while the cross (Line-A × Gemmiza-7) produced the lowest one of green plantlets (2.42%) compared to the parental Line-A, which gave 3.17%. Concerning NaCl concentrations, the medium without NaCl gave better response to multiple shoots as compared to the other media. The two crosses (Line-A × Misr-1 and Line-A × Gemmiza-11) with the highest response in multiple shoots had parent that exhibited very good response. The parental line (Line-A) and the cross (Line-A × Msir-1) produced the highest mean values (61.90 and 45.24, respectively) for salt tolerant index, while the control parental Line-A gave the lowest response to salt susceptibility index (0.13) as compared to its derived crosses.