CLONAL ROPAGATION OF WHEAT

 

 A mature wheat fieldWheat spikelet with the three anthers sticking out.

                                                                                                             Picturres from Wikipedia.com

 

Nolan Anderson

 

Abstract: 

 

Wheat is a grass that is one of the main crops grown in the world today.  The techniques of propagation that will be outlined in this paper of ones of micropropagation, mainly plant tissue culture.

 

Introduction:

 

Wheat as we now it is the most widely grown crop in North Dakota and one of the major staples crops of the United States.  It is the second most widely grown and used next to maize (Wheat).  It is grown in a temperate climate with a moderately short growing season.  It is used in many things, ranging from bread to the making of alcohol.  The classification and naming process of this plant is fairly complicated as it involves the ploidy level of each cultivar, and this is determined mostly by hybridization, even further complicating the process.

 

Methods:

 

Tissue Culture Propagation

 

  1. In tissue culture propagation a plant is selected that wants to be cloned.
  2. Media is made according to what it is to be used for.
    1. Selective media can be used to help eliminate plants with disease.
    2. Normal growth media may also be used to just increase the number of plants.
  3. The plants are them grown under laboratory conditions and then either planted or tested using whichever techniques desired.                             

 

 

Embryo Rescue

 

1.      The plant is first grown out for 17-19 days or until the head is first emerging.

2.      The plants are then emasculated or the anthers are removed from the spikelets.

3.      Next, each wheat head is pollinated with pollen from maize.

4.      After a week, small soft seeds will for, and these are removed from the plant.

5.      The seeds are then cut apart and if they contain an embryo are placed in growing media to grow out.

6.      After 14-28 days the embryos are treated with colchicine to promote doubling of the chromosome number.

 

 

This method of embryo rescue produces double haploids, which means it has two sets of female chromosomes.  This helps in the producing of new cultivars as it cuts down the time to generate true-breeding wheat plants.

 

Future Needs:

 

The future needs of theses techniques are endless.  The assays are used in plant breeding, diagnostics, and others.  Theses procedures help reduce the regeneration time, and also are less expensive and time consuming that spending years growing them out.  With the growing world only time will tell what exactly these techniques will be used for.  But be certain that in time theses same procedures will still be used.

 

References:

 

Berzonsky, Dr. William.  “White Wheat and Specialty Wheat Breeding Programs.”  2001.  <http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/berzonsk/breeding/Project%20Summaries.html>

 

Dlahmini, Zephaniah.  “The role of non-GM biotechnology in developing world agriculture”.  SciDev.net.  Feb 2006.  <http://www.scidev.net/dossiers/index.cfm?fuseaction=policybrief&policy=114&section=772&dossier=6>

 

“Wheat.”  Wikipedia.  2006.  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat >