ABSTRACT
Summary Efforts to breed apomictic grasses met with little success in the past, but results of more recent research show significant progress with some species and new prospects for improving apomicts. Early research uncovered the cytological basis for apospory and diplospory, found the common apomictic mechanisms in grasses, and showed that apomixis is transmitted from parent to offspring. Discovery of sexual or partially sexual (facultative apomicts) plants in several species formerly considered obligate apomicts allowed for hybridization and genetic studies. Results of subsequent research confirmed inheritance of apomixis, and data from the more conclusive studies indicate that method of reproduction is simply inherited. Demonstration of control and manipulation of obligate apomixis through hybridization of sexual and apomictic plants and production of true-breeding hybrids established the potential for using apomixis in a breeding program. Soon after, obligate apomictic hybrid cultivars were developed for commercial use. Reports of progress in the breeding of some facultative apomicts are considered very significant. Scientists found that, contrary to some earlier contentions, highly apomictic hybrids can be recovered following hybridization of plants capable of both apomictic and sexual reproduction. Efforts to improve apomictic Cenchrus ciliaris, Eragrostis curvula, and Paspalum dilatatum are discussed.
