Increased Recovery of Green Doubled Haploid Plants from Barley Anther Culture

Albinism is a major limitation in the production of doubled haploid plants in cereals. As this trait is partly genetically controlled, the culture method has to be adapted to the plant genotype to reduce albinism. We have improved green plant recovery in the Northern barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) spring cultivar Mitja from 6 to 42% by altering the culture method and composition of the culture media. In a new three-step protocol, the addition of casein hydrolysate to an intermediate regeneration medium gave the highest number of green plants. The shoot and root growth medium used for germinated embryos was superior to the standard media reported in the literature for root formation and shoot growth. Our modified method has merit for testing with other recalcitrant genotypes in anther and isolated microspore cultures.