~ 573 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2021; Sp 10(1): 573-578 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 www.phytojournal.com JPP 2021; Sp 10(1): 573-578 Received: 25-11-2020 Accepted: 27-12-2020 Manmohan Sharma School of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu & Kashmir, India Pooja School of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu & Kashmir, India Mamta Sharma School of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu & Kashmir, India RK Salgotra School of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu & Kashmir, India Satish K Sharma School of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu & Kashmir, India Corresponding Author: Mamta Sharma School of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu & Kashmir, India Anther culture of elite rice hybrids for regeneration of doubled haploid lines Manmohan Sharma, Pooja, Mamta Sharma, RK Salgotra and Satish K Sharma Abstract The present study was carried out to analyse the anther culture response of four commercial rice hybrids namely; DRRH3, PRH10, PHB7 and Indira Sona towards haploid induction with respect to cold pre treatment along with effect of growth hormones and amino acids on the callus induction and regeneration. N6 medium augmented with different concentration and combinations of growth hormones and amino acids was used to record the response of genotypes for anther culture, calli regeneration, haploid production and root induction. It was observed that callus induction frequency increased with increase in 2,4-D concentration (1.5 to 2.5 mg l -1 ). In addition, fortification of amino acids like tryptophan (25 mg l -1 ) and cysteine (40 mg l -1 ) showed a synergistic effect on callus induction ability. DRRH3 showed significantly higher scores of androgenic frequencies in comparison to other hybrids. Rooting was effectively induced in liquid half-strength MS medium. It was concluded that callus induction, regeneration, haploid production and androgenesis are genotype specific. However, slight manipulations in cold pretreatment prior to in vitro culturing and media composition can improve the response of genotype towards haploid induction. Keywords: rice hybrids, anther culture, calli, haploid regeneration Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a highly explored self pollinating diploid (2n=2x=24) crop belonging to family Graminae (Poaceae) and is staple diet of 33 per cent of the global population. Rice is cultivated over an area of about 160.1 million hectare worldwide with production and productivity of around 730.0 million tonnes and 4.53 tonnes per hectare, respectively [1] . It is particularly an important crop in Asian continent where more than 90 per cent of the global rice is produced and consumed which accounts for as much as 75 per cent of the calorie intake of about 2 billion humans. India has the highest individual crop acreage of 44 million hectares under paddy with production and productivity of 111.00 million tonnes and 2.52 tonnes ha -1 , respectively [2] accounting for more than 40 per cent of total food grain production. In order to meet the demand of increasing population in India, the current production level needs to be increased to 130 million tonnes by the year 2025 [3] and can be done by developing high yielding rice varieties in shorter time duration utilizing molecular and tissue culture approaches. In India, rice hybrids have gained popularity over last two decades and 93 hybrids have been released for commercial cultivation [4] . In Jammu and Kashmir, rice hybrids PHB 71, Indira Sona, DRRH3 and PRH10 have been recommended for different agro climatic zones owing to superior yield in comparison to conventional pure line varieties. Anther culture in rice is a technique which can be used to produce large number of haploids in a short span of time and induced to generate doubled haploid (DH) plants, thereby reducing the breeding cycle for varietal improvement [5] . Haploid plants are recognized by existence of only one set of chromosomes in their cells and have potential of accelerating the production of homozygous new varieties. Haploid plants derived from regeneration of cultured anthers followed by chromosome doubling, produce pure strains or double haploid plants [6] . DH plants carry two similar alleles of each gene so any recessive mutation becomes apparent and mutations or alleles with lethal effect are eliminated from the gene pool. Anther culture plays an important role in breeding programmes by providing homozygous plants with special agronomic characters like development of earliness, increased grain weight, superior grain, disease resistance dwarf plant type and abiotic stress tolerance [7] . The present study was carried out to analyze the anther culture response of four commercial rice hybrids namely; DRRH3, PRH10, PHB7 and Indira Sona towards haploid induction using cold pre treatment along with effect of growth hormones and amino acids.