Inheritance of plant height and capsule length in sesame, Sesamum indicum L

Culp, Thomas, W.

The progenies of 4 sesame crosses were used to investigate the inheritance of plant height and capsule length. This study indicated that plant height is controlled by 3 to 10 pairs of genes with heritability of 40 to 50%. In 3 crosses, complete dominance of tall plants was indicated. No dominance of plant height was found in the fourth cross. The inheritance of capsule length was found to be conditioned by 2 to 5 pairs of factors with heritability of 50 to 70%. In one cross, complete dominance of long capsules was found. In the other crosses, partial dominance of long capsules was indicated. Dominant factors for both short and tall plants and short and long capsules may condition the inheritance of these 2 characters. A statistically significant positive relationship between plant height and capsule length was found in the F2 generation of 3 crosses, but the magnitude of these values was small. Since the magnitude of the correlations was small, heritability of characters high and gene numbers low, it should be possible to make rapid progress in selecting desirable combinations of plant height and capsule length in sesame.