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Self-incompatibility in sexually propagated cultivated plants

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Abstract

Whenever self-incompatibility occurs in cultivated plants it can rarely be explained on the basis of a simple oppositional allele self-incompatibility system, and moreover, such self-incompatibility is rarely complete but is frequently characterised by pseudo-self-compatibility. Bearing in mind the selection pressures operating during mass cultivation, it would be surprising if many established crop species had retained a completely effective self-incompatibility mechanism. Furthermore, some crop species have a breeding system which is geared to produce an intermediate level of hybridit; a conflict between inbreeding and the inertia of the genetic system appears to be responsible for maintaining this intermediate hybridity level. The implications of this situation on inbreeding of cultivated crops are discussed.

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  1. Unilever Research Laboratory, Colworth House, Sharnbrook, Bedford

    D. G. Rowlands

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  1. D. G. Rowlands
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Rowlands, D.G. Self-incompatibility in sexually propagated cultivated plants. Euphytica 13, 157–162 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00033304

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00033304

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