Androgenesis of the salt tolerant shrub Atriplex glauca.

ABSTRACT

Clusters of flowers, 4 to 5 days old, were successfully cultured on Nitsch and Nitsch (1969) medium in the presence of growth regulators. An average of 20 plants per explant were produced after 6 weeks. Organized growth was obtained only from flowers collected during spring or early summer. Microscopic observations during shoot regeneration indicated that shoot organogenesis took place directly from microspores to give rise to shrubby plants. Their subsequent transfer onto fresh medium in the presence of a different set of growth regulators resulted in the production of "haploid" and "diploid" lines in the proportion of 50∶50. The presumed haploid plants were successfully rooted on Woody Plant Medium (Lloyd and McCown 1980) within a week. The significance of androgenic lines for the study of salt tolerance and the genetic improvement of Atriplex forage quality is discussed.