Variation for improved protein and yield from rice anther culture

Summary The anther culture technique is useful for the recovery of haploids which when doubled provide homozygosity. Additionally, beneficial as well as deleterious genetic and epigenetic changes are promoted by the in vitro procedures. The majority of plants recovered from anther calli of the cultivar Calrose 76 were similar to the starting cultivar but plants regenerated from microspore calli had a wider range of responses than controls for several characteristics. Plants with larger seeds, higher levels of seed protein, shorter stature and more highly tillered than the starting cultivar were obtained from selfed anther-derived plants. The data also support the concept that in vitro procedures including anther culture of specific cultivars of rice promoted the recovery of phenotypes with increased seed storage proteins.Contribution from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Science and Education, Agricultural Research Service, Plant Physiology Institute, Tissue Culture and Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Room 116, Building 011-A, BARC-West, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, USA