Production of haploid plants from ten hybrids of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) through wide hybridization with maize (Zea mays L.)

the aim of this work was to obtain haploid plants of bread wheat through wide hybridization with maize. the experimental material included ten bread wheat hybrids (female parent) and one population of maize (pollen donor). two assays were carried out in two different seasons (summer and winter). wheat spikes were manually emasculated, each spike was pollinated twice with fresh pollen of maize and a solution of 2,4-d (100 mg l-1) was sprayed on pollinated florets and injected in the upper internode. fifteen and 21 days after pollination caryopses were removed and surface sterilized. embryos were cultured in tubes containing b5 medium. the ten hybrid combinations produced caryopses, but only eight of these hybrids produced embryos and, in six of them, the recovered embryos developed into haploid plantlets. the results showed that there is genotypic influence of the wheat parents on the percentage of haploid embryo formation, in accordance with the results obtained by other authors. regardless of the genotype, the sowing season and the harvest date, 69.4% of the pollinated flowers gave place to the formation of caryopses, 5.5% of these caryopses developed into presumably haploid embryos (for their morphological phenotypes) and 26.1 % of the recovered embryos developed into haploid plantlets.