RECENT PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN BREEDING OF LINSEED (LINUM-USITATISSIMUM L)

Abstract

For an accelerated and simplified selection of desirable characters in lin-seed or flax breeding programmes application of various biotechniques would be useful, e. g. (1) somatic cell culture from meristems or calluses for rapid propagation of plants and in vitro-selection, (2) anther- or microspor-re-culture for regeneration of haploid plants, (3) interspecific hybridization of cultivated species and their wild relatives, e. g. by embryo rescue, (4) culture and regeneration of hybrid protoplasts (asexual hybrids), (5) geneticengineering with isolated protoplasts (“direct gene transfer”) and (6) application of genetic engineering via specific vector systems (cf. Fig. 1). Some of these cell and tissue culture methods and techniques have already been applied in practical linseed breeding programmes.