Question

Explain in brief how Mendel interpreted his results to show that the traits may be dominant or recessive.

Answer 1

Mendel performed his experiment on tall and dwarf plant and interpreted his results to show that the traits may be dominant or recessive.

Parent plants: True breeding tall pea plant was crossed with true breeding dwarf pea plant.

Production of F₁ plants: All F₁ plants were found to be tall.

Results of self-pollination of F₁ plants or F₂ plants: Mendel found that on self-pollination of F₁ plants, the progenies obtained in F₂generations were not all tall plants. Instead, one-fourth of F₂ plants were found to be dwarf.

Mendel’s explanation for the reappearance of the short trait:

From this experiment, Mendel concluded that the F₁ tall plants were not true breeding. They were carrying both the traits. They appeared tall, because the tall trait was dominant over the dwarf trait.