Plant Cell Tissue Organ Culture 4 (1985} 235-239 © 1985 Martinus Ni/hoff/Dr I¢. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht. The Netherlands Microspore ernbryogenesis in anther cultures of two Indian cultivars of Brassica ]uncea (L.) Czern. K.K. SHARMA and SANT S. BHOJWANI* Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007, India (Received 10 December 1984; in revised form 15 March 1985; accepted 18 March 1985) Key words: Brassiea]uncea, mustard, androgenesis, anther culture, microspore, embryo Abstract. Direct microspore-derived embryo formation in anther cultures of two cultivars of Brassica juncea was obtained. Preliminary culture of anthers at 35 °C for 1- 5 days prior to maintenance at 25 °C stimulated embryogenesis. Embryogenesis was also stimulated by an initial culture at 5 °C for 3 days. Analysis of squashed anthers revealed that approximately 10% of the microspores began dividing, but less than 1% developed into macroscopic embryos. All embryos transferred to embryo culture medium survived, but only 30% of these developed directly into normal plantlets. The androgenic plants were haploid (2n = 18). Introduction The potential value of induced haploidy in crop improvement has been the subject of several recent reviews [4, 13] and includes effective selection of genetic recombinants from F1 gametes and the provision of a source of haploid cells for mutant selection. In the genus Brassica anther and microspore culture techniques have provided reliable approaches for the generation of haploids in several species including B. campestris [6], B. hirta [10], B. ]uncea [3],B. napus [5] andB. oleracea [7]. The present investigations were undertaken to confirm a previous report [3] on haploid production in B. ]uncea as well as to further define con- ditions required for anther culture in this species. Materials and methods Seeds of Brassica ]uncea (L.) Czern. cvs RIK-81-1 and RIK-80-1 were obtained from Regional Research Station, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Kanpur, and the experimental plants were grown in the Botanical Garden of Delhi University. Seeds were sown in November 1983 and anthers cultured in late January 1984. Two mm long flower buds, containing anthers at the late uninucleate stage of microspore development (as confirmed by acetic orcein staining), were surface sterilized with 20% (v/v) solution of *Correspondence and offprints.