Abstract

In
order to analyse the influence of the unred and red phenotypes of the seednuts
colour and their regeneration level in seedlings, correlations between two
nominal variables, namely the nut colour phenotype and its presence or lack
within the regenerated seedlings, were tested. Two hundred and twenty four
seednuts, whose 87 expressing the red phenotype and 137 the unred one, were
buried in seedbed. A scale of notation conferring the note 0 to the red
phenotype and 1 to the unred one was adopted. Likewise, in nursery, the same
notations 0 and 1 were attributed to red and unred seedlings, respectively.
Chi-square Independence and homogeneity non parametric tests at 5% likelihood
were used. Results showed that the numbers of the unred and red phenotypes of the
seednuts colour in seedbed were not balanced. This seemed to reveal that the
samples did not come from the same parent population. Out of a total of 224
seednuts, 67 showing the red phenotype in seedbed were not able to regenerate
in seedlings in nursery. In the same way, 44 seednuts revealing the unred
phenotype did not succeed in regenerating in seedlings in nursery. In contrast,
from the same number previously reported, 9 expressing the red phenotype in
seedbed managed to regenerate in seedlings in nursery. Likewise, 104 seednuts
expressing the unred phenotype were not able to regenerate in seedlings in
nursery. Thus, the red phenotype was lowly regenerated while the unred one was
highly regenerated in seedlings. The link strength between the colour phenotypes
and the presence / lack of their regenerated seedlings in nursery, although
average, was nonetheless very highly significant. Such a link seems to indicate
that the 2 characters depend on an only and same gene pleiotropic. The rest of
work, in a near future, will consist in searching for the correlations between
the seednut colour phenotypes and the biochemical and physiological processes
responsible for germination and regeneration in seedlings.