Principles of Plant Breeding (2+1)

Advantages of apomixis

• The two sexual processes, self-and cross fertilization, followed by segregation, tend to alter the genetic composition of plants reproduced through amphimixis. Inbreeding and uncontrolled out breeding also tend tobreak heterozygote superiority in such plants. On the contrary, apomicts tend to conservethe genetic structure of their carriers.
• They are also capable of maintaining heterozygote advantages generation after generation. Therefore, such a mechanism might offer a great advantage in plant breeding where genetic uniformity maintained over generation for both homozygosity (in varieties of selfers), and heterozygosity (in hybrids of both selfers and outbreeders) is the choicest goal.
• Additionally, apomixis may also affect an efficient exploitation of maternal influence, if any, reflecting in the resultant progenies, early or delayed because it causes the perpetuation of only maternal individuals and maternal properties due to prohibition of fertilization. Maternal effects are most common in horticultural crops, particularly fruit trees and ornamental plants.