Variation among offspring of alloplasmic tobacco Nicotiana tabacum L. cv 'Zamojska 4' with the cytoplasm of N. knightiana Goodspeed.

Progeny obtained from single plants of cultivated tobacco Nicotiana tabacum cv 'Zamojska 4' and its isonuclear analogue with the cytoplasm of N. knightiana were compared for 16 agronomic traits. The alloplasmic strain showed reduced self-fertility, increased 1 000-seed weight, lower plant height, lower leaf width, and reduced yield and money-value of cured leaves, most of which were fairly common effects of an alien cytoplasm. However, some of these parameters such as plant height, leaf width and length/width ratio, yield and money-value of the crop, and, less regularly, leaf number and fertility, underwent further reduction in the selfed offspring of the alloplasmic strain. Furthermore, among those offspring, especially in the S2-and S3-selfed generations, a significant progeny-to-progeny variation was found for the majority of traits studied, the extent of which far exceeded that encountered in the selfed offspring of the autoplasmic paternal cultivar.