New findings in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) anther culture

In this research, some independent experiments were carried out for investigating the effects of microspore developmental stage, bud pretreatments (cold, heat and Ca), and embryo induction medium on anther culture of some strawberry cultivars. The results showed that the percentages of responsive and embryogenic anthers in cultivar Paros in liquid medium were influenced not only by different developmental stages of microspores, but also by the ratio of mass/volume of the cultured anthers. Moreover, study of the different bud pretreatments in anther culture of four strawberry cultivars demonstrated a highly significant interaction between bud pretreatments and cultivars in the three studied traits including the percentages of responsive, embryogenic and callogenic anthers. The percentage of responsive anthers was increased by low temperature stress (4 °C) and calcium pretreatments. The significant interactions were also observed between embryo induction media and cultivars. Chromosome counting on 30 androgenic plants showed that only one plant was haploid. This plant was obtained from anther culture in cultivar Paros by the use of H1 medium (2 mg l–1 IAA and 1 mg l–1 BA) and cold pretreatment.