Regeneration of Plants from Protoplasts of Triticum aestivum L. (Wheat)

Abstract

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in the world. It is grown in a wide range of environments over an area of 220 million ha with a production of about 564 million metric tons (FAO 1993). The leading wheat producing regions are the former USSR, China, USA, Canada, India, and Europe. Most of the wheat production is consumed as flour, with bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) accounting for approximately 80% of total consumption and durum wheat (Triticum durum) accounting for the remainder. For developing high-yield, high-nutrition, and disease-resistant varieties biotechnological techniques are needed to complement the traditional breeding methods in enlarging wheat genetic variability. An excellent review of how biotechnology may contribute in facilita­ting wheat breeding is given in Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, Volume 13 (see Bajaj 1990). Literature on wheat protoplasts is summarized in Tables 1 and 2, and discussed below.