In-vitro Androgenic Responses in Tropical Genotypes of Maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

The production of doubled haploid (DH), a valuable technique for preserving hybrid vigor in plant breeding, involves generating haploid individuals through in vitro techniques. The direct embryogenesis or callogenesis from immature anthers using in vitro cultivation is used to produce haploid individuals suitable for development of DH lines. In vitro anther culture represents a viable approach albeit requiring the optimization of plant tissue culture protocols for assessing genotypes. In this study, we systematically investigated tassel collection with appropriate size of microspore developmental stages in anthers and the culture media with different growth regulator concentrations for effect on callus induction from anthers. As genotype dependency of response is a very important factor, we experimented three YP basal media with different plant growth regulators for twelve different hybrid maize genotypes. The result revealed that three genotypes - Pusa HM8 Improved, Pusa HQPM1 Improved & APCH-2 demonstrated significant outcomes having the callus induction frequency of 4% in Pusa HM8 Improved, 5% in APCH-2, 8% in Pusa HQPM1 Improved in YP media with 2 mg/l IAA and 1 mg/l Kinetin. Moreover, this study refines media compositions optimized for genotypes of tropical region, and it has potential for enhancing maize breeding programs.