Variegation patterns of kernel colour pigmentation in open-pollinated
cultivations of Zea mays L. in Nigeria suggest a genetical basis that
possibly involves epistatic interactions between various genes. The si
mplest models indicate a dominance of yellow pigmentation to white, an
d possibly deriving from two up to four loci; more complex patterns su
ggest a segregation of dominant brown, purple, or red pigmentation, to
recessive yellow, and possibly controlled by up to about nine genes.
There is an indication that open-pollinated maize cultivations are hig
hly heterozygous for kernel colour genes. Hence, the predominantly cro
ss-breeding system of maize would essentially effect a selfing or sib-
crossing of these colour genes, to yield epistatic variegation complex
es. Other variegation patterns appear to reflect a Xenia and dosage ef
fects.