Project Description
A possible mechanism for shortening the time frame for variety development is through the production of doubled haploid plants via anther or microspore culture. Recently, commercial varieties of canola, and barley have been produced through this technique. In addition, doubled haploid breeding strategies are being employed in other crops such as wheat, sunflower and the vegetable Brassicas which will result in the release of new varieties from these crops in the future.
Prior to the application for CARDS funding, we had developed a protocol for regenerating plant through anther culture in flax/solin. Work had also been initiated on trying to develop a protocol that would in any of the common pulse crops.
The project was divided into two distinct activities – production of flax/solin Fl doubled haploids for oil composition and development of a doubled haploid protocol for pea and chickpea. Within the production of new solin lines 150 solin/flax Fl lines were developed for evaluation. Buds were harvested from each of these lines and placed into tissue culture for the regeneration of doubled haploid plants using a previously established protocol. In addition, a number of small-scale experiments were designed to try to improve the efficiency of the protocol and to try and develop a microspore culture protocol in flax/solin.
Within the pulse portion of the project, the activities were focused at the basic research level. This included examining genotype response, media composition, culture environment, donor plant physiology and regeneration techniques in both pea and chickpea.
Double haploid technology using isolated microspore culture is a powerful tool for the induction of instant homozygosity in many crops. Evaluating this technology in flax/solin and developing this technology for chickpea and pea were the objectives of this project.
In flax experiments large numbers of crosses were evaluated for doubled haploid production. Experiments with pea and chickpea were conducted to evaluate the factors influencing androgenesis. As a result, a protocol was developed in which microspores, exposed to stress and cultured under sterile condition, could be developed into embryos.
Furthermore, a plant was regenerated from the pea cultivar Highlight. Research is in progress to develop a reliable, efficient protocol for routine doubled-haploid production.
