Statistical and Genetic Analysis of Seedlessness and Polyembryony in Citrususing an Intergeneric Hybrid Population

In this study, inheritance of polyembryony which is an important trait for citrus rootstock and seedlessness which is an important fruit character for scions was analyzed using an intergeneric hybrid population. as a result of these analyses, it was determined that while fruits from 27 out of 48 trees were all seedy, fruit collected from 7 trees were all seedless. remaining 14 trees produced both seedy and seedless fruits. number of fruits bearing seedy and seedless trees fitted the 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1 segregation ratios suggesting that the seedlessness is controlled by one or a few gene. when the number of embryo contained in seeds extracted from fruits was evaluated, it was determined that none of the fruits contained completely monoembryonic or completely polyembryonic seeds. it was found that all trees showed polyembryonic seeds 4% to 92% and the average polyembryony rate was 51.4%. the polyembryony rate of individuals in this population showed a normal distribution indicating that polyembryony is a quantitative trait controlled by many genes.