REVIEW Anther culture in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in vitro Teodora Irikova • Stanislava Grozeva • Velichka Rodeva Received: 25 April 2010 / Revised: 21 December 2010 / Accepted: 13 February 2011 / Published online: 4 March 2011 Ó Franciszek Go ´rski Institute of Plant Physiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krako ´w 2011 Abstract Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important vegetable crop that can be improved using plant tissue culture and biotechnology. However, it is difficult to develop appropriate breeding material by in vitro cultiva- tion in this species. Haploid plant production is useful in the breeding programs to facilitate recovery of recessive mutations and unique genetic recombinations. In embryo- genesis, haploid formation from pollen in anther culture is a scientifically advanced, but controversial system. Various techniques for haploid plant regeneration are used to establish an efficient double haploid production method. The purpose of this article is to summarize, through com- parison, results in pepper anther culture, problems associ- ated with work in this field, and the influence of critical factors for successful embryo formation and plantlet development. Keywords Anther culture Á Genotype Á Pepper Á Plant growth regulators Á Nutrient media Á Thermal shock Abbreviations MS Murashige and Skoog basal medium (1962) B5 Gamborg et al. basal medium (1968) N Nitsch basal medium (1969) NN Nitsch and Nitsch basal medium (1969) LS Linsmaer and Skoog medium (1965) C Dumas de Vaulx et al. induction medium (1981) R Dumas de Vaulx et al. regeneration medium (1981) Cm Sibi et al. induction medium (1979) Rm Sibi et al. regeneration medium (1979) CP Chambonnet induction medium (1988) R1, R2 Chambonnet regeneration media (1988) 2.4-D 2.4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid BA 6-Benzyladenine IAA Indole-3-acetic acid TDZ (DROPP) Thidiazuron NAA a-Naphtaleneacetic acid EDTA Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid Introduction Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important vegetable crop grown in temperate and tropical regions of the world. This fact is due to the high biological value of the fruits (high content of dry substance, vitamin C and B-complex, minerals, essential oils, carotenoids, etc.) and their various kinds of utilization in the culinary and food industry of different countries. Conventional breeding in pepper is a long-term and labor-consuming process due to uncontrolled pollination and the necessity of isolation for prevention of genetic degeneration of breeding material. This may be overcome through in vitro methods for haploid plant production. Communicated by A. K. Kononowicz. T. Irikova Department of Developmental Biology, Plovdiv University ‘‘Paissii Hilendarski’’, 24 Tzar Assen Str., 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria S. Grozeva Á V. Rodeva (&) Maritsa, Vegetable Crops Research Institute, 32 Brezovsko Shosse Str., 4003 Plovdiv, Bulgaria e-mail: velirod@yahoo.com 123 Acta Physiol Plant (2011) 33:1559–1570 DOI 10.1007/s11738-011-0736-6