Plant regeneration by pollen embryogenesis from cultured whole spikes of barley (Hordeum vulgare).

Pollen embryogenesis and subsequent plant regeneration have been established from cultured whole barley spikes in agitated N6 liquid medium (Chu 1978) containing high levels of 2,4-D, Ficoll and potato extract. Microspore division within the anthers and subsequent embryogenic development were obtained in medium containing high amounts of reduced nitrogen with Zeatin, NAA and BAP (all at 0.5 mg/l levels, pH 6.2). Once embryoids were formed in the liquid medium, they produced secondary embryoids from the scutellum and subsequently plants on MS (Murashige and Skoog 1962) agar medium containing BAP and NAA. The ratio of green plants to albino was 1∶8.7.