Dominant Recessive Traits

In cannabis genetics, dominant and recessive traits describe how hereditary characteristics are inherited across generations. A dominant trait expresses in offspring even when inherited from just one parent, while recessive traits only manifest when both parents contribute the same allele. Understanding these inheritance patterns is fundamental to cannabis breeding programs, as they explain why certain phenotypic expressions—including aroma profiles, plant structure, and cannabinoid ratios—appear consistently or sporadically in progeny. Breeders map these patterns across multiple generations to predict and stabilize desired traits. Most aromatic compounds in cannabis are polygenic (controlled by multiple genes), making simple dominant-recessive modeling incomplete, though single-gene traits like certain terpene-influencing loci do follow Mendelian inheritance patterns.

Breeders use dominant-recessive knowledge to selectively stabilize aromatic phenotypes in F2 and F3 generations. By crossing plants exhibiting desired scent profiles and observing inheritance patterns in offspring, geneticists identify which traits breed true and which require continued selection pressure or backcrossing to establish stable lines.