Question

"It is possible that a trait is inherited but may not be expressed." Give a suitable example to justify this statement.

Answer 1

Let us take the following example to justify the above statement.
Mendel crossed tall pea plants with short pea plants.

Mendel's Observation

F₁ generation contained all tall plants. When F₁ generation underwent selfing, the trait that was unexpressed in F₁ (short) was observed in some F₂ progeny. Thus, both traits, tall and short, were expressed in F₂ generation in the ratio 3 : 1.

The above experiment indicates that although both the traits of tallness and shortness were inherited in F₁ plants, only the tallness trait was expressed. This shows that traits may not show up in an individual but are passed on to the next generation.