Question

In one of his experiments with pea plants, Mendel observed that when a pure tall pea plant is crossed with a pure dwarf pea plant in the first generation, F₁, only tall plants appear.(a) What happens to the traits of the dwarf plants in this case?(b) When the F₁- generation plants were self-fertilised, he observed that in the plants of the second generation, F₂, both tall plants and dwarf plants were present. Why it happened? Explain briefly.

Answer 1

a) In F1 generation the dwarf traits were not expressed as they were recessive traits.

b)In F2 progeny dwarf plants were found because dwarf trait was concealed in F1 progeny but it was still present. When F1 generation was self- fertilized dwarf trait got expressed in the F2 progeny.