Differential responsiveness of winter and spring wheat genotypes to maize-mediated production of haploids

Haploid induction response through wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) × maize (Zea maysL.) system was studied in each of six winter and spring wheat genotypes and their six winter × spring wheat Fi s by crossing them with maize in separate experiments. Data were recorded with respect to successful pollinations, % embryo formation and % regeneration. Analysis of variance revealed considerable genetic variation among the parental genotypes for embryo formation and regeneration. Although high heritability estimate was obtained for embryo formation (88.97%), it was low for regeneration (33.94%). Line × tester analysis of the data suggested the influence of wheat and maize genotypes and their interaction on embryo formation, whereas significant influence of maize genotypes and wheat × maize interaction was observed in case of regeneration. On the basis of GCA effects, ‘Pnfjoumee × HPW 93’ and ‘Sentry × RL 10-22’ of wheat and ‘Early Composite’ and ‘KH 517’ of maize were good combiners for embryo formation, while ‘Sabet Sweetcorn’ was the only good combiner for regeneration.