How to Predict the Proportion of Offspring with Black Feathers in Chickens?

If two erminette chickens were crossed, what proportion of the offspring are predicted to be black?

Group of answer choices

All offspring

1/2

1/4

3/4

Answer:

1/2 proportion of the offspring are predicted to be black when Two erminette chickens were crossed.

In chickens with codominant alleles for feather color, the heterozygous phenotype (BbWb) is known as erminette, which is a mixture of black and white feathers. When two erminette chickens (BbWb) are crossed, their offspring can inherit one of four possible combinations of alleles: BB, BW, WB, or WW.

To determine the proportion of offspring predicted to be black (BB or BW), we need to use Punnett squares to visualize the possible combinations of alleles that can be passed down from the parents to their offspring.

When two erminette chickens are crossed, the Punnett square would look like this:

B b

W BW Wb

w Bw wb

Each box in the Punnett square represents a possible combination of alleles that can be inherited by an offspring. The letters on the top and left side represent the alleles from the parents.

From this Punnett square, we can see that there are four possible genotypes for the offspring: BB, BW, WB, and WW. Of these four, two of them (BB and BW) result in black feathers. Therefore, the proportion of offspring predicted to be black is 2 out of 4, or 1/2, or 50%.