Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding (The)
Year : 1967, Volume : 27, Issue : 1
First page : ( 21) Last page : ( 33)
Print ISSN : 0019-5200. Online ISSN : 0975-6906.

Inheritance of Seed Size and Seed Number Per Pod in Cicer

Athwal D. S., Sandha G. S.

Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab

Accepted:  1  November,  1966.

Summary

Inheritance of seed size and seed number per pod was studied in two crosses of gram involving parents with wide differences. Small seed size was partially dominant over bold and the character appeared to be dependent on several factors. It was estimated that 15 effective factors were operating in one cross and 12 effective factors in the other. The F₃ breeding behaviour supported this estimate. There was evidence of genie interaction in the inheritance of seed size. As regards number of seeds per pod, low number was partially dominant and in both crosses genie interaction and strong linkage was detected. Although two or three effective factors explained F₂ and F₃ segregation yet the actual number of genes affecting this character appeared to be much larger.

There was a low phenotypic correlation between seed size and yield, but the fixable genetic correlation was considerably higher. Seed size and seed number per pod were negatively correlated. It was concluded that it should be possible to combine bold seed size with high yield, but selection for high seed number would disfavour such combination.

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