Appraisal on the present status of research on apomixis in sorghum

Apomixis literature is 150 years old and is flooded with scores of reviews on the classification, mechanisms, terminology and diagrams. Several misconceptions on apomixis exist like the assumption of the existence of obligate apomixis (obligate apomixis does not occur in any plant, even in the so-called obligate apomicts, some amount of sexuality always exists) and the assumption of existence of perfect techniques on detection and estimation of apomixis (classical embryological methods), clearing techniques, squashes and progeny tests with qualitative, quantitative, isozyme RFLP and RAPD markers. As of today there is no single perfect method. Drastic genotype environment interactions are often ignored and materials are compared in as wide an array of environments as phytotron, greenhouse and field. Apomixis is not a simple genetic phenomenon. It is a complex series of events starting from unreduced or restituted nuclei till the formation of a viable embryo and endosperm.