Genetic architecture of narcotine in opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.)

Genetic studies of narcotine based on additive-dominance model was carried out in opium poppy. A partial dominance to dominance was noticed. Partial dominance was coupled with duplicate epistasis with negative (j) and (i) while dominance was coupled with complementry epistasis and positive (j) and (i). Additive as well as dominance gene effect were both prevalent in the inheritance of narcotine. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was noticed in both the crosses. Considering gene effects, the intermating among the segregants followed by the recurrent selection is recommended to isolate high narcotine genotypes.