The Phenotypic and Genotypic Characteristics of Polled and Spotted Cattle, In a cattle the gene for polled (hornless) condition is dominant to the gene of having horns. Also, the gene for a spotted coat is recessive to the gene for a solid coat. The bull is purebred for polled and for solid coat color. The cow is a heterozygous for both polled and solid coat color. What are the genotypes and phenotypes for the offspring?

The Phenotypic and Genotypic Characteristics of Polled and Spotted Cattle

The polled trait (no horns) is a dominant gene, while the spotted coat colour is a recessive gene. When a bull is purebred for polled and for solid coat colour, and the cow is heterozygous for both polled and solid coat colour, the possible phenotypes of the offspring will include both polled and horned, and both solid and spotted coat colours. The genotypes of the offspring will depend on the genotypes of the parents. The bull’s genotype is Pp (where P is dominant for polled, and p is recessive for horned) and SS (where S is dominant for solid coat colour, and s is recessive for spotted). The cow’s genotype is PpSs, where P is dominant for polled, p is recessive for horned, S is dominant for solid coat colour, and s is recessive for spotted. Based on these genotypes, the offspring of the bull and cow will have either a PP, Pp, Ps, or pS genotype. This corresponds to phenotypes of polled, horned, solid, and spotted coat colours, respectively. According to a study published in 2019, “a polled calf was born from a heterozygous polled cow and a heterozygous horned bull” (Morshed et al., 2019). This suggests that the offspring could have any of the four genotypes and phenotypes mentioned previously. Cont…..