Utilisation of anther culture in rice (Oryza sativa L.) breeding in Italy

Increasing market demand has led to efforts to select for non-sticky, long-grain rice varieties suited to the Italian environment. The variability of recombinant populations derived from crosses between Italian and USA genotypes was exploited. Together with the conventional breeding methods, in vitro anther culture was used to obtain homozygous lines from crosses more quickly. Moreover, hybrid lines were obtained from crosses otherwise impossible to exploit owing to sterility in the F, generation (namely those resulting from crosses involving semi-dwarf USA varieties). Plant regeneration was obtained from 6 F, hybrids whose parents were chosen for their grain quality or their suitability to the Italian environment. About 5500 plantlets were regenerated. Of these, 1000 were albino, and about 50% of the green ones died after transplanting into soil; 65% of the surviving plants were sterile, so about 1000 progeny were obtained (30-445 for each cross). Progeny with desirable characteristics were evaluated for agronomic traits. On the basis of these results, limits and possibilities of anther-culture breeding in rice are discussed.