Broad-Sense Heritability

Estimating cumulative genetic contribution (epistasis, dominanace, additive, etc.), compared to environment, using clones. Narrow-Sense Heritability asks, "How much can we change this population with selection?" Broad-Sense Heritability asks, "How much of what I'm observing is genetic vs environment?

Population Structure

Trait Statistics

How to interpret these inputs

Broad-sense heritability (H²) partitions phenotypic variance using clones. Genetic variance is inferred from differences between genotype means/averages, while environmental variance is inferred from variation among clones of the same genotype. Basically, it helps answer: How much of the observed variation in a trait is attributable to genetics versus environmental effects, and therefore whether genetic selection is expected to meaningfully change the traitif the environment stays the same.

  1. VG (genetic variance) is the variance of mean trait values across distinct genotypes.
  2. VE (environmental variance) is the average variance observed among clones within each genotype.

As replication increases and environmental noise is averaged out, estimates of H² become more stable and interpretable.

Calculated Outcomes

Total phenotypic variance (VP)
Broad-sense heritability (H²)