An extension of the concept of partitioning hereditary variance for analysis of covariances among relatives when epistasis is present

Abstract

It is convenient, for purposes of description and analysis, to consider the phenotypic expression of a characteristic as a sum of an hereditary or genotypic value and of an environmental value, If the actual joint results deviate from this linear description (i.e., if interaction effects exist) the breeder or geneticist must exercise caution in extrapolating from his results because in this case the hereditary and environmental values are defined specifically in terms of each other ( NELDER19 50). For some characteristics a transformation of scale may help in coming closer to additivity (WRIGHT 1950).