Gene effects for yield and fatty acids in Sesamum

Generation mean analysis was carried out to study nature and magnitude of gene effects for yield, its component and fatty acid compositions in a cross of sesame (Sesamumindicum L.) The parents with their F1, F2, B1 and B2 were evaluated in replicated trail for ten quantitative and four qualitative traits. The analysis showed that scales A, B and C were highly significant for all the traits, indicating the predominance of non-allelic interactions or epistasis of Additive x Additive (i) and Dominance x Dominance (l) for almost all the characters in the cross. Predominance of non-additive (dominance) gene action was prevailed in the expression of seed yield/ plant, its components and fatty acid compositions with duplicate type of epistasis in the cross investigated. Hence, selection should be delayed until virtual homozygosity is attained to achieve the improvement in these traits.