Selective Breeding Flashcards

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What is selective breeding?

Selective breeding is when humans choose animals or plants with useful features to be parents of the next generation.

In selective breeding, humans choose which organisms breed. In natural selection, the environment decides which individuals survive and reproduce.

Choose parents with a desired feature, breed them, pick the best offspring, then repeat this process for many generations.

One example is cows that give a high milk yield. Farmers breed only cows that produce lots of milk.

One example is wheat plants with a high grain yield. Farmers choose plants that grow many large seeds.

Farmers use selective breeding to get animals and plants that give higher yields, better quality food, or are easier to keep and grow.

A desired characteristic is a feature that humans want, such as fast growth, disease resistance, or a calm nature.

Selective breeding often uses only a few best individuals as parents. Breeding their relatives together causes inbreeding.

Inbreeding can increase inherited diseases and birth defects, and can lead to health problems, such as breathing or joint issues in some dog breeds.

If there is little variation, a disease or change in the environment may kill many individuals because few have resistance or can cope.