Screening salt-tolerant barley genotypes via F1 anther culture in salt stress media

Anthers of two six-row barley cultivars Diamond (a germination salt sensitive cultivar) and Men Yuan Liang Lan (a germination salt tolerant cultivar), and their F1 reciprocal crosses were cultured in liquid media containing 0, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8% Na2SO4. A total of 138 green pollen plants were obtained: 7 from Na2SO4 media, 128 from Na2SO4 free medium. Seeds of two successive generations of 61 pollen plants were germinated in a series of Na2SO4 solution (0 to 5.5%). It was found that among 37 progenies from F1 pollen in Na2SO4 free medium, 11 were as sensitive as "Diamond", 12 were intermediate to the two parents, 7 were equal to the salt tolerant parent and 7 were more tolerant to Na2SO4 than 'Men Yuan Liang Lan'. Whereas, no progeny from F1 pollen in high salt media was as susceptible as the susceptible parent; 2 were intermediate, 2 were equal to the salt tolerant parent and 2 were more tolerant than the salt tolerant parent. The results indicate that culturing anthers in Na2SO4 media effectively eliminated salt susceptible progenies. All 16 microspore-derived lines of Diamond were as susceptible as 'Diamond' to Na2SO4. The 5 lines from 'Men Yuan Liang Lan' microspores were as resistant to Na2SO4 as 'Men Yuan Liang Lan'. All of the lines breed-true. The results indicate that the lines exhibiting elevated levels of tolerance to salt probably resulted from recombination of genes rather than from spontaneous mutation.