Further cytological evidence on the androgenesis pathway in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.).

The anther culture technique is recognized as an efficient tool for producing viable haploids and generating completely homozygous plants in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Sixty-nine androgenetic plants from four different accessions of pepper were obtained by culturing anthers in vitro under carefully controlled conditions (on average, 4.7 plantlets per 100 anthers cultured). Thirty-three of these plants spontaneously underwent chromosome doubling and were cytologically proven to be doubled haploids. Since the generative nucleus never underwent further division, the route to androgenesis in pepper seems to follow the so called B pathway, that occurs when the formation of the embryos involves only the two symmetrical vegetative-type nuclei derived from the mitotic division of uninucleate microspores.