Rick, C. M.
This mutant was discovered as an unfruitful plant in var. Pearson. A few seeds set on the original plant yielded 9 plants with the same characteristics, and mutant derivatives have tended to breed true, yielding only a small proportion of normal progeny from outcrosses. Mutant plants appear normal in all vegetative aspects. Calyx and corolla do not spread normally. Corolla segments are reduced in size and have a characteristic yellow-green chartreuse color. Stamens are paler than normal and also have a greenish tinge. Pollen is produced abundantly and crosses can be made with ch in both directions. With a natural fruit set of only 5-10% of normal, the plants become vegetative and often reach large size.
All F1 plants grown from crosses to various test lines have been normal in respect to ch traits. The fit to 3:1 segregation in 12/13 families is good as revealed by the following figures: Total seg. 1423+:466 ch, X^2 = 0.110, (X^2)\het = 27.810**; omitting single deviating family, total seg. 1353+:423 ch, X^2=1.321, (X^2)\het\.=16.331. Classification of ch has been uniformly very good under field conditions in several seasons here. It should prove a welcome addition to the list of mature-plant tomato characters. The following linkage data reveal linkages with dl and l\1 on chromosome 8--a finding supported by trisomic tests reported in an another note. The linkage distances, ch-24-dl and ch-11.5-l\1 correspond remarkably well with the previously established distance, dl-36-l\1, and place the locus of ch at 64 on this chromosome.
Adjusted
contingency
Tester + + + t ch + ch t Chi-square Co.
a F2-R 219 52 65 10
ah " 156 47 64 14
c " 195 76 51 24
d\1 " 209 62 54 21
dl " 145 59 73 4 22.09 24.0
l\1 " 180 94 71 1 31.09 11.5
La " 82 121 26 52
yv " 157 46 62 16