Excellent points, Galin. I would add this, from Helm's Deep:
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'What of the dawn?' they jeered. 'We are the Uruk-hai: we do not stop the fight for night or day....We come to kill, by sun or moon. What of the dawn?
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Now at the beginning and end of this exchange the narrator tells us "The
Orcs yelled and jeered;" and it is they (not the narrator) who repeatedly declare "We are the fighting Uruk-hai!"
Now it's entirely unclear whether these particular Uruks are purebreed Orcs, or hybrids more Orkish than human- but clearly they fit on the "orc" side of the ledger.
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Tolkien does however tell us that the Isengarders of Ugluk's command are superior (whether through breeding or training) to Grishnakh's crew: in his notes on the marching speed of the Orcs across Rohan, T states that Isengarders can go 'faster' (by some unspecified amount) than regular Uruks' 4 mi/hr; and that they only need 30 vice 60 minutes' rest every six hours.
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Consider both the "half-trained" comment, which Ugluk makes it at the foot of the Emyn Muil, in the dark: "Run while night lasts!"; andwhen the 'maggots' truly start to lag, as the Rohirrim pursue them, there is no question that the Northerners' fatigue is connected with the sun:
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They were flagging in the rays of the bright sun, winter sun shining in a pale cool sky though it was; their heads were down and their tongues lolled out.
'Maggots!' jeered the Isengarders. 'You're cooked!'
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(The 'maggots' of course had expressed amazement at Ugluk's order earlier to keep on running by day). The Isengarders then put on a 'terrific spurt' of speed; Grishnakh's group, trailing, also begins to 'put on speed ' but it's unclear how much.
It's clear therefore that with regard to the mountain-Orcs and the Lugburz contingent 'training' (and perhaps Orc-breed) is the principal difference: even including resistance to the Sun (after all, the mountain-orcs hardly ever see it). As pointed out above, Mordor-orcs frequently manage to march and fight by day. Grishnakh's group in fact cover 100m in 35 hours straight, including 12 of daylight. But what of the Isengarders? Is their sun-resistance even better? Are Ugluk's bunch in fact hybrids, or are they simply superior in training and readiness?
Now they clearly regard themselves as Uruks, though of a superior type. Ugluk twice says words to the effect of "leave it to the Uruk-hai of Isengard to sort things out" Notably, he says this once to Grishnakh and once to one of his own trackers (addressed as "Snaga"). It would appear that the import is to distinguish U-h of I from, on the one hand, Uruk-hai of Mordor, and on the other hand lesser Orcs of Isengard. I have no problem associating Ugluk and his command with the Uruk-hai at Helm's deep referenced above. But are they hybrids?
We know that they are large, and carry both swords and bows that resemble those of Men rather than Orcs- but that could just be Saruman's quartermaster-general.
When we first see him, Ugluk is "a large black Orc." Grishnakh is "a short crook-legged creature, very broad and with long arms that hung almost to the ground." The Northeners are "smaller goblins." Well, that doesn't help much.
Perhaps more interesting is a subtle difference in accounts of the attacking force at Helm's Deep. Merry's account of the army talks about two groups of "Men"- those who are grim but not especially evil, obviously Dunlendings, and other with goblin-faces, like the "southerner" but even more Orkish. Then of course there were "endless lines of marching Orcs" as well as wolfriders. But when we read the aftermath of Helm's deep, these Orc-men have disappeared, apparently subsumed. Where? Theoden sets the Dunlendings to work and then releases them, whereas the Orcs are annihilated- there's no mention of Orc-men. Are they to be classed with the rest of the "Orcs," since they're plainly not Dunlendings?
I would propose, as a working hypothesis, that Uruks of all types can be *trained* to tolerate the Sun, although it is still detrimental to purebreed Orcs. In the Pelennor fields, it's interesting that from sunrise and the great Charge onwards the only effective enemies mentioned are various types of Men, until with Aragorn's arrival Imrahil drives various Southrons and "orcs that hated the sunlight;" and *men* fly before Eomer's face. The latter part of the battle, "hard fighting and long labour", again has Southrons and Easterlings as the only named enemies. It would appear as if once the Darkness breaks the Mordor-Orcs have become non-factors in the battle;* although they can function in sunlight, their effectiveness as warriors appears to be enormously compromised.
By contrast, the creatures of Saruman's breeding, including those sufficiently Orkish to consider themselves Uruks, simply don't mind the sun at all. This is what Treebeard observes of them, and what they say of themselves: and one would be forced to conclude that Saruman's Uruks did have sufficient admixture of human genes to tolerate sunlight; therefore, that all of Saruman's Uruk-hai and his non-Dunlending "Men" were hybrids, although his trackers and wolfriders were not necessarily so.
*Not to mention the mountain-trolls that wielded Grond, who presumably are now giant statues!