Inheritance and linkage relationships of leaf angles, i.e. angles of leaf attachment and openness and flag leaf angle were studied in a cross between two upland cultivars of rice, namely, D 6-2-2 (drooping leaf) and HY-256 Purple (acute leaf angles). Acute leaf angle was a dominant trait under the control of 4–5 nonallelic mutually interacting genes. The joint segregation pattern revealed the existence of common pleiotropic genes with similar and differential action between each of these angle characters coupled with linkage between only antiinhibitory genes. Nature of inheritance and interrelationship of these leaf angles are discussed and, based on the genetic hypotheses, genotypic constitution of each parent proposed.
Oryza sativa, rice, inheritance, pleiotropy, linkage, leaf angles
