Obligatory and period specific requirement of iron for microspore embryogenesis inDatura metel anther cultures

The experiments to assess the role of iron in morphogenesis of microspore-derived plantlets in anther cultures ofDatura metel revealed that even on iron-deficient medium androgenesis is initiated but the induced units fail to grow beyond multicellular stage, if anthers are not transferred to iron-incorporated medium. Another important conclusion drawn from an experiment involving weekly transfer of anthers from nutrient medium lacking both iron source (ferrous sulfate, FeSO₄·7H₂O, 10^?4 M) and chelate (disodium salt of ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid, C₁₀H₁₄N₂Na₂O₈·2H₂O, 10^?4 M) to that containing both of these or vice-versa, is that iron if present during the initial culture period, in fact affects the plantlet yield adversely. Thus, anthers cultured on iron-deficient medium, for initial one or two weeks and then transferred to iron-containing medium, yielded higher number of plantlets than those developed from anthers cultured continuously on complete basal medium having both iron and chelate.