A breeder wants to increase the average egg mass of captive quail while limiting inherited health problems.
Before selective breeding began:
The leg disorder is caused by a recessive allele.
The breeder tested two selective breeding programmes for eight generations.
| Programme | Number of breeding pairs used in each generation | Average egg mass after eight generations in g | Offspring with the leg disorder after eight generations in % | Number of different alleles after eight generations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 4 | 13.2 | 18 | 17 |
| B | 16 | 12.4 | 5 | 31 |
Explain which breeding programme should be continued. Use all the data to compare the effects of the programmes and include the likely vulnerability of each population to a new disease.
80 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE Biology 6.2 Variation and evolution, covering 6.2.1 Variation, 6.2.2 Evolution, 6.2.3 Selective breeding, 6.2.4 Genetic engineering, and 6.2.5 Cloning. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.