Effect of cold pretreatment and different media in improving anther culture response in rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Bangladesh

In vitro production of doubled haploid (DH) plants through anther-culture provides an efficient and convenient system for rapid production of homozygous lines. Various pretreatments have been reported to influence callus induction and plantlet regeneration efficiency. In the present study, cold pretreated anthers influenced the embryoid formation in five different induction media where hormonal combination was modified. Regeneration potential of 25 rice cultivars was assessed on the basis of anther response, embryo induction, plantlet regeneration and production of green and albino plantlets. Of 20 rice cultivars, embryoids were obtained from only five cultivars on media containing specific amino acids and different combination of phytohormones. IR43 produced maximum embryos (16.13%) and green plantlets (11.88%), followed by BRRI dhan33, IR54, Jaya and BR3 in SK3 medium. All the responding genotypes produced albinos in addition to the green plantlets. Cold pretreatment at 4°C for 3-7 d generated highest frequency of embryos and green plantlets. However, all the responding genotypes showed better induction from cold pretreated anthers in comparison to the control. 5-d (T3) cold pretreatment was found to be the most effective compared to other treatments on SK3 medium.