An investigation of chromosome numbers in the genus Brachiaria (Poaceae: Paniceae) in relation to morphology and taxonomy

Abstract

Determinations of chromosome number and morphological studies of 260 populations, belonging to 32 taxa, of the genus Brachiaria from the Indian subcontinent reveal that all sexually reproducing taxa have no chromosome races. Six agamic taxa, viz., B. brizantha var. brizantha (n = 27), B. brizantha var. ciliata (n = 18), B. decumbens (n = 18), B. hybrida (n = 27), B. mutica (n = 18), and B. setigera var. albistyla (n = 14), have consistently shown uniformity in chromosome numbers, based on x = 7, 8, and 9. Brachiaria setigera var. setigera, a genetically unstable apomict, is the only taxon that tends to have a heteroploid series (n = 16, 17, 18, 21, and 32). The population of B. setigera var. setigera with n = 17 is based on a secondary base number of x = 17. There are 6 diploids, 20 tetraploids, 5 hexaploids, and 3 octoploids in the genus. Aneuploidy and triploidy are characteristically absent in the genus, although their plausible existence in the B. setigera complex cannot be ruled out. In several species certain previously reported chromosome numbers that deviate from the present study are found to be the result of erroneous identifications or the result of taxonomically complex situations such as those found in B. brizantha, the B. distachya complex, and the B. ramosa complex.