Effects of zeatin riboside, mannitol and heat stress on eggplantn (Solanum melongena L.) anther culture

In this research, the effects of zeatin riboside (0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.2 and 1.4 mg l-1), duration of heat stress of 35 °C (6, 8, 10 and 12 days) and mannitol (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg l-1) on anther culture of four eggplant cultivars were investigated in independent experiments. These experiments were performed according to a factorial arrangement in a randomized complete blocks design layout. The results showed significant interaction effects between the cultivars and treatments. The highest percentage of embryo-derived plantlets (25%) was obtained in cultivar Chantal using 1 mg l-1 zeatin riboside and 8 days of the heat stress. The results also indicated that the use of 10 mg l-1 mannitol had the highest embryo-derived plantlets (66.6%) in cultivar Chantal. In cultivars Hadrian and Faselis, the ploidy levels of all regenerated plants from anther culture (10 and 21 plants, respectively) were determined through flow cytometry and it was found that 60% and 57.1% of the tested plants were haploid, respectively. In cultivars Chantale and Valentina, 30 regenerated plants were selected for determining their ploidy levels and the results showed that 40.2% and 51.5% of the plants were haploid, respectively.