Morphological and molecular evidence supporting advantages of apomictic seed production in castor bean (Ricinus communis L.).

Background: Ricinus communis L. is a large plant from the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), grown for industrial and medicinal purposes. In this research, progenies obtained from three types of reproduction, including apomixis, self-pollination, and open-pollination from a worldwide collection of castor bean (14 genotypes), were evaluated based on yield components and agro-morphological traits and the amount of inbreeding depression and apomixis advantages were estimated in each genotype using offspring.

The relation between apomictic seed production and morpho-physiological characteristics in a world collection of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.).

Ricinus communis is one of the most important oilseed plants with many medicinal and industrial applications. Variation in 30 genotypes of castor bean collected from different regions of the world was evaluated for two consecutive years and the difference in seed production with two different reproductive modes (including apomixis and open-pollination) was compared based on yield components, agronomic traits, and phytochemical properties. Results of data analysis demonstrated that castor bean has the ability for a wide range of apomixis for seed production and the highest percentages of apomixis ability in the first and second years were 86.