Response of Turkish purple carrot genotypes to the anther culture

Abstract

Carrot (Daucus carota L.) is an economically important vegetable species that is rich in nutritional content. Hybrid cultivars are widely used in carrot production. Thus, it is of huge importance to develop pure lines to develop hybrid cultivars. Because carrot is an outcrossing vegetable species, the development of homozygous lines is time-consuming and a laborious task. In addition, the pure lines obtained by means of conventional breeding methods are not fully homozygous. 100% pure lines of carrot could be obtained using anther culture in a short time. In this study, two different genotypes of Turkish purple carrot and an orange carrot genotype were used to develop haploid plants through anther culture. Anthers were planted onto a modified Gamborg’s B5 medium and the pH was adjusted to 5.8. The development of calluses from anthers was observed 12-18 weeks after planting. While 2.2 and 15.7% of anthers planted from purple carrot genotypes developed a callus, anthers from the orange carrot genotype did not show any callus or embryo induction. These results demonstrated that Turkish purple carrot genotypes have a good response to anther culture.