Dominant Recessive Inheritance

Dominant-recessive inheritance describes how traits pass from parent plants to offspring through allele pairs, where one allele's expression masks the other. In cannabis genetics, breeders observe this pattern when crossing plants carrying different versions of genes controlling morphology, flowering time, or terpene production. A dominant allele requires only one copy to express its trait, while a recessive trait requires two copies from both parents. This inheritance model, foundational to Mendelian genetics, helps explain why F1 hybrids often show uniform phenotypes while F2 generations segregate into predictable ratios. Understanding dominant-recessive patterns is essential for stabilizing desired traits across breeding lines and predicting offspring characteristics.

Breeders use dominant-recessive models to plan crosses strategically—selecting parents to either express dominant traits immediately or combine recessive alleles for novel phenotypes. Tracking these inheritance patterns across generations enables the development of stable, predictable cultivars and identification of hidden recessive genetics valuable for future breeding projects.