Microspore Culture Response in Wheat Populations with HMW Alleles for Development of Saudi Wheat Lines with Excellent Bread-Making Quality

The production of double haploids through androgenesis is used by breeders to produce homozygous lines in a single generation. The objective of this study is to develop Saudi wheat lines with favorable HMW allelic combinations from crosses between the elite cultivars Irena (CIMMYT), Yocora Rojo, Klasic (USA) and Lang (Australia) and three different adapted Saudi lines (Ksu102, Ksu 105, and Ksu106). Microspores were isolated from the four F₁ populations (Irena x Ksu102, Lang x Ksu105, Klasic x Ksu105, Yocora Rojo x Ksu106) of wheat spikes using a micro-blender following their pretreatment by placing the spikes in mannitol (0.3 M) at cold (4^◦ C) for 4 days. Following purification via filtration and gradient centrifugation on 20% maltose, the microspores were cultured in the presence of excised ovaries in liquid medium at 27° C. Green and albino plants with roots and shoots development were counted. Green plants were transferred to the green house and fertility was evaluated based on seed set. Doubled haploid (DH) wheat plants were obtained. DH frequency was also found to vary greatly between the four populations of wheat. Our results indicate that the population; Irena x Ksu102 produced the highest numbers of fertility lines.