Inheritance of Seed Coat Colour in Bengal Gram*

Seed coat colour in bengal gram plays an important role in its commerical evaluation. It was found to be governed by five factors. Out of these, four factors interact with each other in controlling the various shades of colours from yellowish brown to green seed coat colour. The colour yellowish brown was observed to be dominant over all the other shades and was governed by four dominant genes. The whitish brown and ox-blood colours are independent two factor sets which complement each other to produce yellowish brown colour. The green colour is recessive and was found to occur in two different genotypes (i) quadruple recessive and (ii) triple recessive. The fifth factor independently controls the black seed coat colour. It was further observed that the black colour of the seed coat although a genetic factor is sensitive to the intensity of the sunlight.