Is somaclonal variation a reliable tool for spring wheat improvement?

Summary Seed progeny of tissue culture regenerants of a spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. HY320) was evaluated for key agronomic traits for three years under field conditions. Initially, 27 regenerant families were tested in hill plots. Among-family and within-family variation was generally highly significant (p < 0.01) and nonsignificant, respectively. The variation observed among regenerants on the basis of hill plot testing was not duplicated in subsequent four-row plot experiments. On average, regenerant families yielded 28 and 5% less than the control in dryland and irrigated tests, respectively. Low yielding regenerants tended to produce fewer, lighter kernels per spike. Higher grain protein levels among regenerants were associated with low yields (r=0.85). This study demonstrated that putative somaclonal variation arising from tissue culture failed to produce genotypes agronomically superior to the parental cultivar, HY 320.NRCC Publication No. 33533