Question

Samarth has a dairy farm with high milk yielding cows. In order to conserve these desirable traits for several generations, he performed inbreeding among the cattle. However, he noticed that continued inbreeding resulted in reduced fertility and productivity. What would be the best possible option to overcome the problem?

• A. The weaker cows should be allowed to mate with very closely related healthy bulls of the same breed
• B. The weaker cows should be allowed to mate with unrelated healthy bulls of the same breed
• C. The weaker cows should be allowed to mate with animals belonging to different species
• D. Both a and c

Answer 1

The correct option is B The weaker cows should be allowed to mate with unrelated healthy bulls of the same breed

The scenario mentioned in the question is a case of inbreeding depression, which happens when inbreeding is done continuously.

Inbreeding involves mating of very closely related individuals having common ancestors. Inbreeding strategy is used when the animal breeder wants to conserve the desirable qualities over many generations. However, continued inbreeding results in reduced fertility and productivity. This is called inbreeding depression.

The best possible way to overcome the problem is mating of the weaker cows with the unrelated superior animals of the same breed having no common ancestors. This type of breeding is called out-crossing. A single outcross often helps to overcome inbreeding depression. Offspring born will be healthy.

Hence, option b is correct.

Option a is incorrect. The mating of weaker cows with very closely related healthy bulls of the same breed is called inbreeding. This will further reduce the fertility and productivity of cows.

Option c is incorrect as mating of these weaker cows with animals of different species results in interspecific hybrids with new characters. It will not overcome the problem of inbreeding depression.