Characterization of floral bud and anther development with stages of microspore in chili pepper (Capsicum annuum)

Anther culture can be used as a tool in breeding to shorten the time compared with the traditional method. Anther culture can produce double haploid plants quickly, hence saving cost and labor. The success of this technique depends on the use of microspores at optimum developmental stages. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to determine the correlation between the day after flower formation (DAF), flower bud (FB) size, anther length, and microspore developmental stages in seven chili F₁ hybrids. All parameters were observed at 0 to 10 DAF on three flowers per replication, three replications per cross. The study revealed a strong positive correlation between DAF and microspore developmental stages, with almost all crosses showing that 3 to 5 DAF correlated with the uninucleate stage. Moreover, a strong correlation was observed between petal/calyx ratio and the microspore developmental stages. However, we found overlapping stages of microspore in each stage and different cultivars showed a difference in FB size, anther length, and characteristics of anthers. Thus, for chili pepper, DAF could be used to effectively predict microspore development.