Obtention of haploid plant in Citrullus lanatus var. Lanatus and C. Lanatus var. Citroides species by anter culture method

This research was conducted with Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus and Citrullus lanatus var. citroides in order to obtain haploid plant in watermelon species by anther culture method. In the experiment, 1 open pollinated species (Halep Karası) and 1 hybrid type (Crimson Tide) belonging to Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus subspecies and 2 genotypes of the Citrullus lanatus var. citroides subspecies (PI 296341 and PI 189225) were used. In anther culture applications, 2 mg/l 2.4-D + 90 g/l sucrose supplemented MS medium was used and 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) was tried at different doses (1 and 1.5 mg/l). Additionally, spermidine (SPD) and putresine (PUT) were added separately to the media contents at different doses (500 and 1000 lM/l) to investigate the effect of polyamines. 14 different media combinations were tried in the study. Two different experiments were established in the study. In the first experiment, flower buds were collected 1 day before anthesis and the anthers were cultured at 32 °C for 2 days in dark condition and then cultured. In the second experiment, the buds were collected 2 days before the anthesis were cultured without being subjected to pre-heat treatment. According to the results, anther development and callus formation were observed at varying rates on the basis of genotypes used in different medium but no transformation into plants. The effect of polyamine (SPD and PUT) on anther culture in watermelon has not been clearly observed.