Inheritance of seed coat colour in broad bean (Vicia faba L.)

The inheritance of the seed coat colours 'violet', 'spotted', 'brown', 'green', 'red', 'black' and 'beige' was investigated in a 10×10 diallel cross between broad bean (Vicia faba L. major) lines. 'Spotted' seed colour was dominant over any uniform seed coat colouring. Brown was dominant over black, green and normal (beige colour). Black and red seed parents behaved as recessive in all F1 progenies. A 3 (coloured): 1 (normal) segregation ratio was observed in the F2 of crosses of 'violet', 'brown', 'black', 'red' and 'spotted' seed coat parents to 'nornal' seed coloured parents. Green x beige gave a segregation ratio of 9:7 in F2. When two parents with different seed coat colour were involved in a cross, the F2 showed a typical digenic segregation ratio thus demonstrating two unlinked and sometimes epistatic loci. Segregation of a multiallelic series at two loci explains all segregation ratios observed for seed coat colour in broad bean. © 1985 Veenman B.V., Wageningen.