Anthers of two maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines, DBTS (P1) and B73 (P2), their F1, F2 and first backcross generations - F1 x DBTS (B1), and F1 x B73 (B2) - were float cultured in YP medium to study the inheritance of corn anther culturability using generation mean analysis. Significant effects of generation were observed for the three traits measured: anther response (%), frequency of embryos (%) and anther productivity. Variation among the generations was similar for anther response and frequency of embryos: no significant differences were found among the P1, F1, F2 and B1 means, but the means of P2 and B2 were significantly lower than those of the other generations. For anther productivity, the F2 generation tended to have a slightly higher tendency for multiple embryo formation. A simple additive-dominance model was adequate in explaining the inheritance of anther response and frequency of embryos, but digenic epistasis (additive x dominance) was involved in the inheritance of anther productivity. Additive genetic variance was higher than non-additive genetic variance for all the traits; however, only environmental variance was significant. Narrow-sense heritability estimates were 65% and 75% for anther response and frequency of embryos, respectively. Significant inter-plant variation was observed within generations, even for the inbred line DBTS, but isozymic analysis involving five enzyme loci did not reveal any genotypic variability within the inbred lines DBTS and B73.