The heterozygosity responsible for vigor can be efficiently fi xed by apomixis. This phenomenon is defi ned as aprocess in which plants produce seeds without fertilization.
In apomixis, female meiosis is bypassed producing embryos genetically identical to the parent. Superior cassava genotypes can be perpetuated indefi nitely through apomixis, which is strongly associated with polyploidy in cassava (NASSAR 2001, 2006). We studied here how much these processes affect the fertility of an interspecifi c hybrid,and a possible effect on frequency of multiembryonic ovules.