Selective breeding

• Selective Breeding


  1. Choosing parent with desired characteristics to breed & produce offspring with desired characteristics

  2. Artificially selecting parent to breed from a mixed population that have desirable characteristics

  3. Selecting again from the offspring and only breeding the ones with the desired characteristic

  4. Continuing this process over many generations, until all offspring show the desired characteristic
• Selective breeding features


  • Disease resistant
  • Animals that produce more meat/milk
  • Gentle nature in domestic animals
  • Large/bright/unusual flowers
• Selective breeding


  Reduces the number of alleles in the population because only individuals with chosen allele are allowed to breed
• Reduction in variation of alleles for a given characteristic

  If a new climate or new disease emerges, lack of genetic variation means the animals can't cope and are more susceptible to the disease, resulting in population dying out
• Inbreeding


  Some breeding populations have become so closely bred that animals are mated with close relatives, which results in little variation
• Selective breeding reduces the number of alleles in the population because only individuals with chosen allele are allowed to breed
• Reduction in variation of alleles for a given characteristic means if a new climate or new disease emerges, lack of genetic variation means the animals can't cope and are more susceptible to the disease, resulting in population dying out