Final answer:
Hybrid seeds may not consistently produce plants similar to the parent due to genetic variability. In contrast, seeds from inbred lines are more likely to grow into plants that look like the parent due to stable genetic traits. Dihybrid crosses typically exhibit a phenotypic ratio of 9:3:3:1, but results can vary with different genetic factors.
Step-by-step explanation:
The outcome of the seeds collected from a hybrid tomato plant may not necessarily grow into plants that resemble the original hybrid due to genetic variability. Hybrid seeds often manage to combine favorable traits from parent lines and are usually more vigorous. However, their offspring are typically more variable and less vigorous. Therefore, if you plant seeds from a hybrid, the resulting plants may show a variety of traits and not be identical to the hybrid parent.
On the contrary, when you collect seeds from an inbred line of tomato, which is true-breeding, the offspring are more likely to resemble the parent plants. True-breeding, or inbred, plants are those that, over time, have been bred to express certain traits predictably and consistently. As such, seeds from an inbred line are more likely to produce plants identical or very similar to the parent.
In the context of dihybrid crosses, like the hypothetical cross between tall plants with inflated pods and dwarf plants with constricted pods, the offspring will follow Mendelian inheritance patterns. In a dihybrid cross, assuming simple dominance and independent assortment, we expect to see offspring with a phenotypic ratio of 9:3:3:1, if both traits are governed by two distinct pairs of alleles. However, the actual outcome may differ if there are other genetic interactions or if the alleles do not assort independently.