ABOUT THE INHERITANCE OF SEED COLOR IN AMARANTH
There are given the results of research into determining the inheritance pattern of seed color in amaranth (Amaranth cruentus and A. leucospermus). Polymorphism in the amaranth seed color was shown. Depending on a plant species, and even within a single species, seeds may be black, brown, yellow and white in color. The seed color is determined by the color of the seed coat, which is in turn caused by pigments contained in the peel. It was shown that all the F1 plants had white coloration that can be explained by the embryological features of the seed formation from integuments of a parent plant. Despite the seed coat color uniformity in the F1 offspring the F2 generation showed segregation for this trait. In this case were formed four classes of colored seeds: black, brown, yellow and white. Such a segregation pattern proves the interaction of alleles of two genes with the ratio for phenotypic classes being 15: 1. It has been concluded that the amaranth seed color is controlled by two polymeric genes, dominant alleles of which being in the homozygous state express black color of seeds, while their recessive alleles - the absence of color (white seeds).