1) Narrow sense heritability of withers height in a population of quarter horses is 17%. The average withers height in this population is 17.5 hands (1 hand is equal to 4 inches). From this population, studs and mares with average withers height of 19.8 hands are selected as parents for the next generation. 1a) Calculate the selection differential and expected response to selection for withers height in this population. 1b) What should be the average withers height in the progeny of the selected animals?
Genetic Variation
Genetic variation refers to the variation in the genome sequences between individual organisms of a species. Individual differences or population differences can both be referred to as genetic variations. It is primarily caused by mutation, but other factors such as genetic drift and sexual reproduction also play a major role.
Quantitative Genetics
Quantitative genetics is the part of genetics that deals with the continuous trait, where the expression of various genes influences the phenotypes. Thus genes are expressed together to produce a trait with continuous variability. This is unlike the classical traits or qualitative traits, where each trait is controlled by the expression of a single or very few genes to produce a discontinuous variation.
1) Narrow sense heritability of withers height in a population of quarter horses is 17%. The average withers height in this population is 17.5 hands (1 hand is equal to 4 inches). From this population, studs and mares with average withers height of 19.8 hands are selected as parents for the next generation.
1a) Calculate the selection differential and expected response to selection for withers height in this population.
1b) What should be the average withers height in the progeny of the selected animals?
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