Establishment of an efficient callus induction and plant regeneration system in Pakistani wheat ( Triticum aestivum ) cultivars

Four commercially grown wheat varieties of Pakistan, namely Inqilab-91, Chakwal-97, Tatara and Manthar were used for this investigation. For callus induction different concentrations of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyaceticacid (2,4-D) along with 0.1 mg/L of Kinetin were evaluated. For regeneration initially different concentrations of Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA) and 6-BenzylAminoPurine (BAP) were tested. Best hormone combinations were further subjected to Kinetin and 6-γ-γ-dimethylallylaminopurine (2iP). For Inqilab-91, Chakwal-97 and Manthar, 3 mg/L of 2,4-D was found optimum, which induced 83.25%, 77.75% and 95.20% of embryogenic calli, respectively. Maximum callus induction (97.18%) was observed in Tatara when 2 mg/L of 2,4-D was used. As regard to regeneration, Inqilab-91, Chakwal-97 and Manthar showed maximum regeneration on media containing 0.1 mg/L IAA, 0.4 mg/L Kinetin and 0.5 mg/L 2iP, regenerating 87.25%, 81.75% and 68.75% respectively. For Tatara maximum regeneration of 12.25% was obtained on 0.1 mg/L IAA and 2 mg/L of BAP. Presently optimized regeneration method holds promise for facilitating the deployment of agronomical important trait through genetic transformation for the improvement of this important food crop