APOMIXIS
Nucellus
Integuments
Types of Apomixis
•Parthenogenesis----Haploid and Diploiod
•Apogamy------Haploid and Diploid
•Apospory---Generative (Diplospory) and somatic
•Adventive embryony(sporophytic apomixix)
•Recurrent and Non recurrent Apomixis
Applications of Apomixis:
1. Fixation of Heterosis:
• Apomictic progeny of hybrids have the same genotype as the hybrid
• Obligate apomixix results in complete fixation of heterosis
• Where apomixis is dominant, a sexually reproducing line as female
and obligate apomictic line as male parent to produce apomictic
Hybrid.
• Sexually reproducing line(as female) X Apomictic line(as male)
Apomictic Hybrid
Maintained and multiplied through seed
2. Rapid Production of Homozygous Lines/Purelines:
•Haploid parthenogenesis gives rise to haploid plants, upon
colchisine treatment Diploid purelines.
3. Production of Vybrids:
•It is the progeny obtained from a cross between two facultative
apomicts.
•Vybrid itself reproduces through facultative apomixis and is
maintained by harvesting the seeds of only F1 like apomictic plants
in every generation
4. Maintainance of superior genotypes:
A superior plant which produces seed by apomixis will breed true
for character of mother plant
Advantages of Apomixis:
Hybrid seed production using male sterility and self incompatibility
suffers from three limitations
•Technologies are relatively sophisticated
•Farmers have to buy fresh Hybrid seeds every year
•Two parents of a Hybrid must flower at the same time
In contrast Apomixis offers the advantages like
•Obligate apomixis permits fixation of heterosis in hybrid farmers can
resow the hybrid seeds
•The new hybrid variety could be multiplied from few hybrid seeds in
the same manner as purelines.
•Hybrid seed field require minimal isolation(3m) only to prevent
mechanical mixtures.
Problems in Utilization of Apomixis:
•Apomixis is very complicated phenomenon.
•Estimation of the level of apomixis in cases of facultative
apomixis is tedious and time consuming.
•In case of facultative apomicts the proportion of sexual
progeny is affected by environmental factors like day length
and temperature.
•In the absence of morphological markers linked with
apomictic development, maintainance of apomictic stocs
becomes difficult.
•The genetc basis of apomixis is not clear in most cases.
