Determination of anther culture performance of some pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) breeding genotypes

In this study presented, anther culture performances of 23 pepper genotypes belonging different types were determined. In disinfection of flower buds, the buds were first kept in 70% ethyl alcohol for 30 seconds and then were waited in 15% sodium hypochlorite solution containing 1-2 drops of Tween-20 for 10 minutes. The anthers taken were cultured in Murashige and Skoog (MS) nutrient medium containing 30 g/L sucrose, 2.5 g/L activated charcoal, 15 mg/L silver nitrate (AgNO3), 4 mg/L 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), 0.5 mg/L 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 6.5 g/L agar in the first stage. The anthers were then transferred to MS medium including 30 g/L sucrose and 6.5 g/L agar and without growth regulators. The embryos obtained were taken to the same nutrient medium (second one). The anthers were cultured at +35ºC and in dark conditions for 2 days as pre-treatment. When the results of the study were evaluated, average embryo number per hundred alive anthers according to the genotypes ranged from 0.83 to 44.44. The highest ratio was observed in the genotype FT-509 and it was followed by the genotypes FT-508 (23.61 embryos/100 alive anthers), FT-1181 (23.37 embryos/100 alive anthers) and FT-905 (22.89 embryos/100 alive anthers). The genotype FT-1178 showed the lowest performance with 0.83 embryos/100 alive anthers. Generally, all of the embryos developed could transform into plants. Therefore, the average embryo number forming plant per 100 alive anthers was the same with average embryo number per hundred alive anthers. The highest average plant number was observed in the genotype FT-508 with 20 plants and it was followed by the genotypes FT-509 (17.5 plants-approximate 17), FT-1181 (16 plants), FT-905 (12 plants), FT-263 (10.5 plants-approximate 10) and FT-507 (8.25 plants-approximate 8). The lowest number of plant was recorded in the genotype FT-1178 with 0.5 plant (approximate 1 plant). At the end of study, while anther culture performance of the genotype FT-509 was assessed as high with 44.44 embryos/100 alive anthers, anther culture performances of the genotypes FT-508, FT-1181, FT-905, FT-501, FT-1179, FT-1174, FT-908, FT-507, FT-1173, FT-1180, FT-1182, FT-903, FT-901, FT-1183 FT-907 and FT-263 were evaluated as fair with 11.47-23.61 embryos/100 alive anthers. The anther culture performances of the genotypes FT-900, FT-500, FT-906, FT-902, FT-1175 and FT-1178 were assessed as poor with 0.83-9.87 embryos/100 alive anthers. Keywords: Pepper, Capsicum annuum, anther culture, genotype