The culture of excised anthers on sterile nutrient medium. If anthers are taken from a plant at a certain stage of development and cultured under appropriate conditions then embryoids and subsequently haploid plantlets may be induced to form from the pollen grains. In some species it is possible to culture isolated pollen grains. This precludes the possibility that any resulting plantlets might be derived from somatic tissue rather than a pollen grain. In culturing isolated pollen grains, anther tissue may have to be used as nurse tissue. If the ploidy level of plantlets derived from pollen grains is doubled using colchicine then completely homozygous diploid plants can be obtained. Compare ovule culture . |
