Androgenic potential and anther in vitro culture of Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl an edible-seed cucurbit

Abstract

Lagenaria siceraria Molina has a high productive potential of fruits but the seeds weight remain low. The aim of this study is to regenerate doubled haploids from androgenesis in order to create genotypes with good agronomic characteristics. For this purpose, flower buds of six accessions namely NI185, NI202, NI215, NI276, NI356 and NI271 were pre-treated at 4 °C for 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 days. To assess the ability of these accessions to induce callus, the anthers excised from the collected floral buds were cultured following two standard protocols referred to as Metwally et al. and Kumar and Murthy, respectively. Histological sections were performed with buds of different sizes in order to select pollen at uni-nucleate stage, the most appropriate for the androgenesis. The histological sections showed that the pollen is at uni-nucleate stage when the bud size varied from 5 to 7 mm. No callus production was observed with the protocol of Metwally et al. whereas a significant formation of callus were expressed on medium corresponding to the protocol of Kumar and Murthy. The best rate (79%) of callus induction was obtained after one and two days of pre-treatment at 4 °C. The highest rate of callus induction was observed with the accessions NI271, NI276 and NI356.

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Keywords: Cucurbitaceae, anther culture, thermal shock, androgenesis, plant regeneration