Study of in vitro anther culture in selected genotypes of genus Capsicum

The combined effect of anther incubation time on CP induction medium (12, 14, and 16 days) and 2 concentrations of kinetin in R1 regeneration medium (0.1 and 0.3 mg/L) on the effectiveness of androgenesis was investigated in 17 genotypes of Capsicum grown in Poland. Plant material consisted of breeding lines and intraspecific hybrids of C. annuum; the species of C. frutescens, C. chinense, and C. baccatum var. pendulum; interspecific hybrids F-1 (C. frutescens x C. chinense) and F-1 (C. frutescens x C. baccatum); and doubled haploid lines derived from the hybrids. The results of the tested variants of the experiment were compared with the androgenic response of the control anthers cultured according to the standard protocol previously developed for pepper (12 days incubation on CP, 0.1 mg/L kinetin in R1). Under control conditions, androgenic embryos regenerated only from anthers of 3 of the tested genotypes, whereas application of the selected modifications promoted embryo development in an additional 12 genotypes. The highest effectiveness of androgenesis was observed after 16 days of anther incubation on CP medium combined with 0.1 mg/L kinetin in R1 medium. Twelve- and 14-day-long anther incubation was more effective when followed by transferring anthers onto R1 medium supplemented with 0.3 mg/L kinetin.