Asked by paisley

Heritage Valley Farm's genetics team uses probability calculations and Punnett squares to predict breeding outcomes and make data-driven decisions. Their mathematical approach helps estimate the likelihood of specific traits appearing in offspring.
Question 4 (11.111111111 points)

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The cattle breeding program wants to maximize their chances of producing polled (hornless) calves. They know the polled trait is dominant. Which breeding strategy would give them the highest probability of polled offspring?
Question 4 options:

Cross two heterozygous polled animals for 75% polled offspring

Cross a heterozygous polled animal with a horned animal for 50% polled offspring

Cross two horned animals since recessive traits are more predictable

Cross two homozygous polled animals for 100% polled offspring

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Cross two homozygous polled animals for 100% polled offspring.

Explanation: Let P = polled (dominant), p = horned (recessive).
- PP x PP → all offspring PP → 100% polled.
- Pp x Pp → genotypes 1 PP : 2 Pp : 1 pp → 75% polled.
- Pp x pp → 50% Pp : 50% pp → 50% polled.
- pp x pp → all pp → 0% polled (so “cross two horned” is worst).

Thus the PP × PP cross maximizes probability of polled calves.