PLANT-REGENERATION FROM EMBRYOS DERIVED FROM CROSSES BETWEEN HORDEUM-VULGARE AND H-BULBOSUM

The objective of this investigation was to study plant regeneration and haploid versus hybrid formation from embryos in the barley genotypes VK 16032, 'Vada', and 'Vogelsanger Gold', together with F1 and F2 progenies of the combinations (VK 16032 x 'Vada') and (VK 16032 x 'Vogelsanger Gold') derived after crossing with Hordeum bulbosum. Plant regeneration was found to be a function of embryo size and genotype, very little influenced by the time of year. 'Vada' was inferior in plant regeneration to VK 16032 because of genotype influence. 'Vogelsanger Gold' had almost no plant regeneration because of very small embryos and it probably also had low plant regeneration potential, which was exposed in the F1 and F2 progenies. Hybrid formation was strongly influenced by season in that high numbers of hybrids were produced during the winter months. Both plant regeneration and hybrid formation are complexly inherited and probably the embryo genotype itself has a strong impact on the development. If attention is payed to combination of barley genotypes, embryo size at the time of culture and time of year for crossing with H. bulbosum, the system could also be successfully used in difficult winter barley material.