Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding (The)

Crosses involving four Triticum durum varieties with two types of Secale cereale, showed a lack of seed setting. Some of the whitish embryos isolated from partially and/or highly shrivelled caryopsis of the crosses, germinated in vitro into viable seedlings. Presence of endosperm appeared to be inhibitory to the development of hybrid embryos. Maximum number of viable hybrid seedlings was obtained from ‘normal’ hybrid embryos withdrawn into in vitro culture, at day 20–22 after pollination. The genotype and the temperature at which the parental lines are grown appear to be important factors for development and differentiation of hybrid embryos in vivo as also subsequently for higher frequency of germination in vitro.