Final answer:
The broad-sense heritability of flowers per plant in the wild population is approximately 0.56, or 56%. Additionally, understanding the Hardy-Weinberg equation and Mendel's laws can help predict the genetic makeup of plant populations and the outcomes of crossbreeding for specific traits.
Step-by-step explanation:
If you find that the variance in flowers per plant in a wild population (Vp) is 90 and the variance in flowers per plant in your home-grown population (Ve) is 40, you can calculate the broad-sense heritability (H2) using the equation Vp = Vg + Ve, where Vg is the genetic variance. To find Vg, subtract Ve from Vp: Vg = 90 - 40 = 50. The broad-sense heritability is then H2 = Vg / Vp = 50 / 90. Therefore, the broad-sense heritability of flowers per plant in the wild population is approximately 0.56, or 56%.
Understanding the Hardy-Weinberg (H-W) equation and Mendel's laws of inheritance is essential in determining things like allele frequencies and expected genotype frequencies within populations of plants. For instance, if you have a dominant allele frequency (p) of 0.8 and a recessive allele frequency (q) of 0.2 in a population of 500 plants, you can predict the number of homozygous dominant (VV), heterozygous (Vv), and homozygous recessive (vv) individuals, as well as the number of plants with violet or white flowers.
Using Mendel's principles and probabilities, you can also predict the outcome of crossbreeding plants for specific traits, like insect resistance and rapid growth. These principles can provide a percentage of the expected offspring with the desired combination of characteristics.