Read more
Wheat, which is the second most important cereal crop in the world, is being grown in a wide range of climates over an area of about 228 945 thou sand ha with a production of about 535 842 MT in the world. Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ) accounts for 80% of the wheat consumption, howe ver, it is attacked by a large number of pests and pathogens; rusts and smuts cause enormous damage to the crop and reduce the yield drastically in some areas. The major breeding objectives for wheat include grain yield, earliness, resistance to lodging and diseases, spikelet fertility, cold tolerance, leaf duration and net assimilation rate, fertilizer utilization, coleoptile length, nutritional value, organoleptic qualities, and the improvement of charac ters such as color and milling yield. The breeding of wheat by traditional methods has been practiced for centuries, however, it has only now come to a stage where these methods are insufficient to make any further breakthrough or to cope with the world's demand. Although numerous varieties are released every year around the world, they do not last long, and long-term objectives cannot be realized unless more genetic variability is generated. Moreover, the intro duction of exotic genetic stocks and their cultivation over large areas results in the depletion and loss of the native germplasm pool.
List of contents
Section I In Vitro Technology, Establishment of Cultures, Somatic Embryogenesis, and Micropropagation.- I. 1 Biotechnology in Wheat Breeding.- I. 2 Factors Affecting the Establishment of Callus Cultures in Wheat.- I. 3 Somatic Embryogenesis in Wheat.- I. 4 Factors Affecting Somatic Embryogenesis in Wheat.- I. 5 Improvement of Somatic Embryogenesis in Wheat by Segmentation of Cultured Embryos.- I. 6 Clonal Propagation of Wheat.- Section II Wide Hybridization: Embryo, Ovule and Panicle Culture.- II. 1 Wide Hybridization - Potential of Alien Genetic Transfers for Triticum aestivum Improvement.- II. 2 Incorporation of Barley Chromosomes into Wheat.- II. 3 Triticum × Aegilops Hybrids Through Embryo Culture.- II. 4 Wheat × Thinopyrum Hybrids.- II. 5 Production of Triticale (Triticum × Secale) Through Embryo Culture.- II. 6 Triticale × Wheat Hybrids.- II. 7 Embryo Culture of Wheat - Regenerative Tissue Culture System.- II. 8 In Vitro Culture of Wheat Ovules.- II. 9 Growth of Wheat Ears in Liquid Culture.- Section III In Vitro Production of Haploids and Release of Varieties.- III. 1 Wheat Anther Culture: Agronomic Performance of Doubled Haploid Lines and the Release of a New Variety "Florin".- III. 2 Anther Culture 28 - A New Disease-Resistant and High-Yielding Variety of Winter Wheat.- III. 3 In Vitro Production of Haploids in Triticum spelta.- III. 4 In Vitro Production of Haploids in Triticale.- III. 5 Wheat Anther Culture: Effect of Temperature.- III. 6 Wheat Anther Culture Using Liquid Media.- III. 7 A Direct-Generation System for Wheat Haploid Production.- III. 8 Culture of Isolated Pollen of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).- III. 9 Wheat Haploids Through the Bulbosum Technique.- III. 10 Wheat Haploids Through the Salmon Method.- Section IV Somaclonal andGametoclonal Variation, and Mutation.- IV. 1 Chromosome Instability in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Cell Suspensions and Their Dividing Protoplasts.- IV. 2 Somaclonal Variation in Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.).- IV. 3 Somaclonal Variation in Triticale.- IV. 4 Genetics of Gliadin Proteins and the Problems of Interpreting Results Obtained with Somaclonal Variation in Wheat.- IV. 5 Gametic Analysis and Gametoclonal Variation in Triticeae.- IV. 6 Mutations in Wheat - Future Possibilities.- IV. 7 Streptomycin Resistance of Common Wheat at Plant and Cellular Level.- Section V Nutritional Improvement.- V. 1 High Protein Wheat.- V. 2 Biotechnology in Nutritional Improvement of Wheat.- Section VI Protoplasts, Transient Gene Expression, and Cryopreservation.- VI. 1 Ion Channels in Wheat Protoplasts: Patch-Clamp Application to the Study of Transport.- VI. 2 Transient Gene Expression in Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Protoplasts.- VI. 3 Cryopreservation of Germplasm of Wheat.
