Effects of two-locus combinations, using the roux, lavender, and beige mutations, on plumage color of Japanese quail.

The interactions between the effects of three plumage color mutations taken two-by-two (sex-linked recessive roux, autosomal recessive lavender, and autosomal dominant beige) were studied in Japanese quail by producing a total of 121 F(1) and 1118 F(2) quail from the three pure stocks. Three new plumage colors were obtained in F(2) quail: roux-diluted beige, cream, and lavender-diluted beige. Two of them, roux-diluted beige (from the roux and beige mutations) and cream (from the roux and lavender mutations) corresponded to double homozygotes or hemizygous birds, and could therefore be used to tag a quail line. On the other hand, an F(3) from F(2) birds with lavender-diluted beige plumage was necessary to show that quail with this plumage color were homozygous for the lavender mutation, but were either homozygous or heterozygous for the beige gene. In all three F(2)s, observed segregation of plumage colors fit simple two-locus Mendelian inheritance.