Studies on somaclonal variants for resistance to scab in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) through in vitro selection for tolerance to deoxynivalenol

This study was conducted to develop an efficient in vitro selection system for scab resistance by using in vitro screening for tolerance to deoxynivalenol (DON). Immature embryos of two wheat varieties, a scab-resistant variety Sumai 3 and a susceptible variety Mianyang 11, and their reciprocal F₁ hybrids were cultured on MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D 2 mg/l and 0.6 × 10^-4 M DON for callus induction. The responses of callus induction and plant regeneration to 0.6 × 10^-4 M DON differed significantly between resistant and susceptible varieties, according to observed scab resistance levels at the plant level in the field. The percentage of callus formation of resistant variety Sumai 3 on induction medium containing DON was higher than that of susceptible variety Mianyang 11. Regeneration of DON-tolerant calli on DON-containing differentiation medium differed significantly between Sumai 3 and Mianyang 11. Averaged across the DON-tolerant calli of two varieties and their reciprocals, regeneration of DON-tolerant calli was decreased 3-fold on DON-containing medium. By an inoculation test with conidiospores of Fusarium graminearum Schw, we obtained several resistant lines from progenies of regenerated plants from DON-tolerant calli. These somaclonal lines had lower disease scoring (reaction index, infected spikelets and disease incidence), shorter plants and better yield components than Sumai 3, a famous Chinese resistant variety. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.