Applications of pollen or anther culture
Here we have listed some of the applications, merits and demerits of anther and pollen culture.
- Haploid production – Major application of pollen / anther culture is production of haploid plants. It takes much time to produce haploid plants by conventional breeding methods (many generations of inbreeding or backcrossing). As pollens are haploid, plants developed from these are homozygous (haploids).
- Protoplast isolation – Used for protoplast isolation as single pollens (unicellular) are available.
- Transformation – Used in transgenic plant formation, it can be done with less time consumption.
- Crop improvement – In-vitro anther culture is used for improvement in vegetable and cereal crops e.g. asparagus, sweet pepper, watermelon, cabbage, broccoli, wheat etc.
Advantages of Anther or Pollen culture
- Simple
- Less time consuming, large number of haploids can be produces in less time. This topic is discussed in applications of anther and pollen culture.
- Responsive, most of the anthers used in culture respond.
- Pollen culture avoids the risk of chimera and callus formation from anther walls.
Disadvantages of Pollen or Anther culture
- Requires skill to remove anthers without causing damage, it is one of the most tedious jobs.
- Not much successful in case of cereal crops.
- Risk of chimera and callus formation from anther walls, in anther culture.