Relationship between tissue culture and agronomic traits of winter wheat

Twenty-five winter wheat cultivars (cv.s) were evaluated for their ability to produce embryogenic callus, eventually plantlets, as well as the agronomic performance in the field to determine the relationship between tissue culture and agronomic traits. There were significant genotype effects on callus formation, callus fresh and dry weight, callus moisture content, embryogenic calli formation and the frequency of plant regeneration. Relationship between tissue culture and agronomic traits was examined by correlation and regression analysis. Important relationships between the two traits were found such as the frequency of plantlets regeneration from immature embryos could be estimated from spike number per m(2). Such relationships may be due to the fact that plantlets regeneration might be controlled by the genetic system controlling the incidence of spike number per m(2) or partial linkage with it. This result suggests that it is possible to screen genotypes with good tissue culture traits directly at the agronomic trait level, a practice rather simple and straightforward.