Gregor Mendel’s hybridisation experiment was conducted to study the inheritance of traits in pea plants. Mendel initially acquired true-breeding varieties of pea plants, meaning that they passed on their traits to each generation when crossed. He crossed plants that had different traits to see how the traits were passed on to the next generation.
Mendel studied seven traits in pea plants: seed shape, seed color, plant height, pod shape, pod color, flower color, and flower position. He crossed true-breeding plants that had different traits for each of the seven traits. For example, he crossed plants that had round seeds with plants that had wrinkled seeds to study the inheritance of seed shape.
Mendel then analyzed the results of the crossing. He observed that the offspring of the parents had only one of the traits from each parent. This meant that the traits were inherited in a predictable way. He also observed that some traits were dominant, meaning that the trait was expressed in the offspring even if only one of the parents carried the trait. This is now known as Mendel’s Law of Dominance.
Mendel’s hybridisation experiment showed that traits are inherited in a predictable way, and that some traits are dominant. This experiment laid the foundation for the science of genetics and is still used today to understand inheritance patterns.
