Genetics of flower colour in pink flowered “Rosea” and white flowers “Alba” in periwinkle Catharanthus roseus (L) G. Don

Abstract

Genetics of flower Colour in winka Catharanthus roseus (L) G. Don were in vestigate by inheritance two types (strains) of plants with different flowers colour were used in this study,pink corolla, and strong violet-purple eye color, and strong pink stem, and dark green leaf lamina (P), and White corolla, and yellow and greenish eye, and strong pink stem, and yellow and green leaf lamina (W) as parents, to determine the number of genes involved. This study was conducted at Horticulture Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Kassala State, Sudan during for three years the period: Jan 2016 to Oct. 2020. First the two parents were covered to ensure self-pollination. Reciprocal cross has been carried out between the two inbred parents. The study showed that a single pair of genes is probably involved in flower colour and that gene for pink corolla, and strong violet-purple eye color, and strong pink stem, and dark green leaf lamina (P) is incompletely dominant over that for White corolla, and yellow and greenish eye, and strong pink stem, and yellow and green leaf lamina (W). The reciprocal crosses gave the same results indicating no role of cytoplasmic genes in the inheritance of these colors.