Use of in vitro tissue culture to study heterosis in peas.

摘要

Correlations between growth of callus on culture media and growth of plants in the field were studied in 3 pea cultivars, 2 mutants, and 5 hybrids. Expression of quantitative traits in whole plants was shown to correlate with callus growth in vitro.The highest correlation was found between explant growth in tissue culture and field viability (r=0.845). The correlation coefficient in the reciprocal recessive model calculated for these parameters was 0.910. Mutants and hybrids that had a complex ofcompensatory genes were characterized by high heterosis both under field conditions and in vitro. Thus, in vitro callus culture can be used to model breeding for heterosis and to predict productivity and heterosis in pea plants.