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Inheritance of Seed Size in Sorghum, Sorghum vulgare Pers¹

A large-seeded variety of sorghum, ‘Big Seed’, and a small-seeded variety, ‘Norghum’, their F₁ and F₂ cross generations, and the two first backcrosses were investigated to gain a better understanding of how seed size is inherited and to assess the possibility of increasing seed size through selection. A preliminary study indicated that a 300-seed sample from each plant would give adequate precision.

Population means and variances provided the basic data from which conclusions were drawn. All populations were approximately normally distributed on the original scale. Transformation to Y-2 caused the largeseeded parent to depart from normality but eliminated the correlation between means and variances. Gene action appeared to be almost entirely additive. Evidence for dominance or epistasis as an important contributor to seed size was lacking. A minimum of 3 or 4 genetic factors or blocks of genes, primarily additive in their effect, appear to control seed size.

Heritability for seed size was estimated to be 60% indicating that considerable progress could be made in shifting mean seed size by selecting and recombining large-seeded F₂ plants.

² Associate Professor of. Plant Breeding, and Associate Plant Breeder Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arizona; Professor of Agronomy, Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station; and Research Agronomist, Crops Research Division, ARS, USDA, Lincoln, Nebraska. This work completed by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.S. degree at The University of Nebraska.

Received for publication April 10, 1966.