or Homozygous Recessive, (bb)?
If you have been given seeds or a clone you
may have been told that a trait, such potency
is Homozygous Dominant, Heterozygous or
Homozygous Recessive. However, you will want to
prove this to yourself. Especially if you are
going to use that plant in a future breeding
plan. You will have to do what is called a Test
Cross.
THE TEST CROSS
Determining the phenotype of a plant is
fairly straightforward. You look at the plant
and you see its phenotype. Determining the
genotype can not be done through visible
observation alone. The genes themselves are
somewhat hidden except for their visible
related phenotypes.
Again there are three possible genotypes
that the plant can create. Let’s say golden bud
is dominant and silver bud is recessive. Here
is the table.
Homozygous Dominant: BB = Golden Bud.
Heterozygous: Bb = Golden Bud
Homozygous Recessive: bb = Silver Bud.
(The Golden and Silver bud colours are the
phenotype. The b and B are genotype notations.)
