The effect of colchicine upon the embryos of barley (
Hordeum vulgare L.) cultured
in vitro has been studied. Different concentrations of the drug as well as different times of culture in its presence have been tested, in order to ascertain the optimal conditions for the induction of non diploid cells. Tetraploid cells were always infrequent after the treatments, reaching the higher values during the first days of culture; aneuploid cells being frequent in some cases.
Keywords Aneuploidy - Barley - Chromosome number - Colchicine - 
In vitro
culture - Polyploidy