Principles of Plant Breeding (2+1)

Economically important characters

	Qualitative	quantitative
Nature of traits	Traits that have Mendelian inheritance and can be described according to kind.	Degree of expression of the trait.
Scale of variability	discrete or discontinuous phenotypic variation.	continuous variation.
Number of genes	single genes are readily detectable	traits are under polygenic control
Mating pattern	individual matings and their progenies.	Population of individuals that may comprise a diversity of mating kinds.
Statistical analysis	Based on counts and ratios.	Estimates of population parameters namely mean, varience, etc.
Effect of environment	Less	More