Effects of Cold Shock Pretreatment and Carbohydrate Sources on Anther Culture of Rice

In spite of potential benefits of anther culture, low productivity of plant regeneration in some genotypes; e.g. tonsil and indica rice, is one of the major obstacles for practical use of anther culture. This study was conducted to improve cold shock method and carbohydrate source for increasing the efficiency of anther culture in rice. The most common carbon source, sucrose was replaced to maltose, which has two molecules of glucose. Maltose increased callus induction 1.4-to 1.8-fold higher in japonica rice, 3.2-to 11.6-fold in tongil types and 2.7-fold in indica rice IR50. Callus induction was increased from 0.2％ to 12.5％ in maltose medium compared to the medium supplemented with sucrose plus glucose in indica rice "Tetep". A simple procedure of vacuum packaging of panicles during cold shock treatment prolonged not only anther viability more than 15 days but also increased callus induction more than 2-fold compared to open-air storage (conventional method). Combining of above two methods, callus induction was increased 28 to 56％ in japonica, 13 to 33％ in tonsil type and 12 to 31％ in indica rice. Plant regeneration was increased 14 to 35％ in japonica, 10 to 20％ in tonsil and 4 to 15％ in indica rice, respectively.