Studying the Genetic Behavior to Improve some Quantitative Traits of Peas under Sohag Conditions.

To determine the nature and degree of gene action for yield and its component traits in
two pea crosses, the current study used the generation mean analysis and the chi-square test.
With the exception of the shellout % in the Boogie x Balmoral cross, practically all of the traits
showed one or more types of epistatic effects, according to scaling and joint scaling tests. For the
other traits, significant Chi-square values and the results of all three scaling tests, or any of the
individual tests A, B, or C demonstrated that the digenic interaction plays a role in inheritance of
the traits studied. Duplicative epistasis was observed in all studied traits of the two crosses,
except for number of branches per plants, pod width and weight of 100-seeds in cross 1, as well
as shellout percentage in cross 2, where complementary epistasis prevailed. For most of the
quality traits in this study, the dominance gene effects were stronger than the additive ones. In
early segregating generations, it is advised to select for traits controlled by the dominating
additive component. It could be concluded that in most of the studied traits, selection should be
postponed to later generations of selection. Moreover, the findings obtained in this study
suggested that reciprocal recurrent selection should be adopted to obtain higher yield.