Selekcija i Semenarstvo (Jan 2000)
Using callus culture to study the drought tolerance of wheat genotypes
Abstract
In this paper, we studied the drought tolerance under in vitro conditions of two winter wheat (T. aestivum L.) cultivars, Košuta and Renesansa. The tolerance was tested on a modified MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) nutrient medium to which polyethylene glycol (PEG) was added at three different concentrations: 10%, 20% and 30%. Calluses from the control group were grown on a medium without PEG. After four months of growing on these mediums, fresh weight and dry matter content in the callus tissue were determined. We found significant differences in genotype response to different PEG concentrations The highest concentration (30%) was lethal to the isolated embryos, so at this concentration no calluses formed in any of the genotypes. At 10 and 20% PEG, there was a significant decrease in the fresh callus weight in both genotypes. Thus, at the lowest concentration ( 10% PEG), the fresh weight decreased by 90% in Košuta and by 93% in Renesansa relative to the control. Due to callus dehydration in the presence of PEG, the dry matter content in the calluses of both genotypes increased with increasing PEG concentrations in the medium. In Košuta, the dry matter content increased from 8.7% (control) to 24.9% (20% PEG), while in Renesansa it increased from 8.6% (control) to 39.7% (20% PEG).
