Genetics of Recessive Pied

Summary:
Normal - dominant
Recessive Pied - recessive

There are only two alleles for recessive pied: the normal gene and the recessive pied gene. The normal gene is completely dominant to the recessive pied gene. Here, we will represent the normal gene as "R" and the recessive pied gene as "r". Therefore there are three possible genetic combinations for any budgie:

• RR - Two normal genes (homozygous) resulting in a normal budgie.
• Rr - One normal gene and one recessive pied gene (heterozygous) resulting in a normal budgie that is split for recessive pied.
• rr - Two recessive pied genes (homozygous) resulting in a recessive pied budgie.

As you can see, the only was a budgie can show the recessive pied trait is if it has two recessive pied genes. If the normal allele is present, the budgie will look normal and is said to be "split" for recessive pied. Below are some punnet square examples of pairings.