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 second generation, F₂ both tall plants and dwarf plants were present. Why it happened? Explain briefly

Answer 1

(a) The dwarf traits of the plants is not expressed in the presence of the dominant tall trait.
(b) In the F₂ generation, both the tall and dwarf traits are present in the ratio of 3 : 1. This showed that the traits for tallness and dwarfness are present in the F₁ generation, but the dwarfness, being the recessive trait does not express itself in the presence of tallness, the dominant trait.