In: Biology
Suppose a farmer is interested in developing a breeding program on his chicken farm. The farmer would like to artificially select for egg weight, egg shape, shell color, and shell thickness. In a large population of his chickens, the farmer has measured these four continuous egg traits of interest and calculated their variances, shown in the table below.
Variance | Weight | Shape | Shell Color | Shell Thickness |
Phenotypic | 166 | 1043 | 157 | 176 |
Additice Genetic | 4 | 140 | 83 | 22 |
Environmental | 83 | 522 | 95.4 | 220 |
Dominance Genetic | 5 | 657 | 19.8 |
8 |
Which trait would best respond to artificial selection by the farmer?
A) Shell Color
B) Egg Shape
C) Egg Weight
D) Shell Thickness
Select that statements that identify how the farmer might utilize the information gained from his data.
A) Identify quantitative trait loci correlated to each trait examined in the chicken population after obtaining genetic sequence data for his chicken population.
B) Recommend a selective breeding program for a population of chickens from another country based on his results.
C) Design an experiment to improve the shell thickness trait in the current chicken population by changing the farm environment.
D) Further inbreed the chickens on the farm with the largest egg shell thickness to improve the overall phenotype.