About 200 somaclones have been regenerated from scutellar callus of inbred A188 after cultivation in vitro during eight months. The viability of the regenerated plants was low: only 11.3% of somaclones reached maturity. Most regenerated plants differed in several traits from the initial line. About 40% of somaclones manifested developmental abnormalities, and 13% were sterile. Six self-pollinated regenerated plants with normal development were chosen randomly, and their developmental patterns were analyzed through three seed generations. The inherited variations of quantitative traits included decrease in plant height, the node number, the number of kernel rows per ear and increase in the length of the fourth leaf from the top of the plant, the number of tassel branches, and the number of kernels in a row. The time to anthesis in all somaclones was one or two weeks shorter as compared to A188. Purple-colored kernels were observed in the R1 and R2 progenies of three regenerated plants. The level of expression of this trait was variable. Two somaclones differed from A188 in 10-20% lower capacity for embryogenic callus induction in immature embryos. Two to seven patterns were inherited simultaneously in each somaclone. The future experiments will elucidate whether these variations resulted from several independent mutations or from one pleiotropic mutation.
 

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