Breeding of Fruit and Plantation Crops

Maintenance and transfer of apomixis

 
• Once an apomict plant is detected, its inheritance pattern may be studied through crossing a few sample flowers with the pollen obtained from normal plants and observing the segregation pattern in F2 and subsequent generations. The remaining flowers may thoroughly be checked and seeds collected on maturity. The true apomictic plant will automatically produce mother apomictic progenies, which can be maintained without difficulty.


• In respect of transfer of apomixis, substantial evidence is available for the hybrid origin of many of the apomicts. Nevertheless, there is no evidence at all the hybridization by itself can induce apomixis. Situation is further aggravated by the unstable nature of apomicts since there is every likelyhood of the breaking down of interacting gene complexes conditioning apomixis. Therefore, possibilities of introducing apomixis in non-apomicts are the least but not totally absent.